Video of man throwing water on homeless person in Montreal draws outrage
Montreal business owner apologizes, alleges homeless man harassed clients
A video of a man tossing water on a homeless person sleeping outside in Montreal, Saturday, has shaken online viewers concerned with the treatment of vulnerable people.
It was first uploaded to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday before the original poster deleted it in the afternoon. By then, someone else shared the video on Reddit, where it continued to spark reactions.
Footage shows a woman carrying a container to the entrance of MTL Gaming Centre on St. Laurent Boulevard, in Chinatown, where a homeless man is sleeping.
Speaking in French, she asks a man standing next to the person lying down, "What if he [the person sleeping] is dangerous?" before handing over the container and moving behind a glass door.
The man is shown dumping water on the homeless person sleeping, who then springs to his feet while whimpering.
"It's time to wake up, my friend. We can't sleep here," the man who threw the water says, giggling.
MTL Gaming Centre is co-owned by Nizar Z. Awada.
CBC News contacted Awada, but he declined an interview. In an email sent Monday, he pointed to a public apology he published Saturday on X "to address the recent video I posted of me throwing water at a homeless person outside my business."
In the post, he alleges that the homeless man "had a history of sexual harassing and being violent towards my attendees despite multiple warnings to leave."
"I recognize what I did was wrong and unjustified," Awada wrote. "I acknowledge my mistake and commit to learning from it."
Asked whether the apology was for throwing water at the man or posting the video, Awada specified in another email to CBC News that it was for "posting the video because it was not the correct thing to do."
He added that he called police and spoke to officers in person about previous incidents involving the same man.
Montreal police, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), said in a statement that it did not receive 911 calls reporting the content of the video.
"We are currently analyzing it in more depth to validate the date, location and who was involved," the statement reads. "The SPVM does not encourage this type of behaviour which could lead to criminal charges."
Homeless person treated as 'subhuman,' viewer says
The apology hasn't quelled the frustration of many people who watched the recorded incident.
Several people who saw the video, including Bashir Mohamed who lives in Alberta, said they found the encounter "extremely disturbing."
"I've tried so much in the last day to rationalize what was going through that person's mind, and the only way you do this to somebody is if you think they are subhuman," Mohamed told CBC News. "The people throwing water on him are not fearful in any way."
Mohamed said he worries challenging economic circumstances will normalize comments and behaviours that make homeless people feel unworthy of dignity.
"The rhetoric has gotten so toxic that people see videos like this as routine, and it seems we have lost a little bit of our humanity," he said.
James Hughes, president and CEO of the Old Brewery Mission in Montreal, said incidents involving homeless people like the one captured in the video happen often, and sometimes, they can turn violent.
"There's absolutely nothing amusing about victimizing a poor, defenseless person sleeping in your doorway," Hughes said, noting that violent acts — like throwing water on someone who is asleep — risk backfiring.
About 10,000 people in Quebec experienced homelessness in 2022, according to the Health and Social Services Ministry's latest report published in September last year. Nearly half of them are in Montreal.
With homelessness being an ongoing issue across Canada, Mohamed says compassion needs to be reflected in public policy.
"There needs to be adequate funding to support people who are homeless but also understand why these things are happening," he said.
The office of Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante issued a statement on Monday, describing the video as "shocking" and unjustified.
"Everyone has a right to dignity and respect, whatever their situation," the statement reads.
The mayor's office said urgent situations warrant calling 911, which could lead to an intervention by the city's mobile social mediation and intervention team, known by its French acronym ÉMMIS, which it says can help in situations of "social cohabitation."
Written by Holly Cabrera with reporting by Kwabena Oduro and Rowan Kennedy