Inuk woman’s death should be a wake-up call, shelter workers say

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Intervention workers say the latest death of an Inuk woman should serve as a wake-up call for authorities to fund more long-term housing.

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Elisapee Pootoogook was found dead Saturday morning at the construction site of a condo building near Cabot Square. Those who knew her well assume that she was frozen to death after being kicked out of the Atwater tube station, where she often sought refuge on cold nights. The 61-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene by Urgences-santé paramedics.

Montreal police have ruled that there were no criminal elements in his death, so the coroner will investigate, said coroner spokesman Jake Lamotta Granato.

Pootoogook’s death mirrors that of Raphaël André, a 51-year-old Innu man who died in January in a portable toilet near Milton St. and Parc Ave. In the wake of his death, a cry for more resources led to a tent to heat overnight. being installed in Cabot Square, named after André. Pootoogook was a frequent visitor. However, she often had to resort to the subway station when the tent was packed, explained Nakuset, whose Montreal native women’s shelter helps run the tent.

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Nakuset said she is heartbroken over Pootoogook’s death, because she has been pushing the cities of Montreal and Westmount for more safe spaces in the area. He said more deaths will follow if more resources are not found soon.

“We need something more sustainable than a tent. If you only fit 15 people in a tent and 300 people, it’s not serving the people, ”said Nakuset, executive director of the native women’s shelter and co-administrator of the Resilience Montreal shelter. “I’d like someone in leadership to say, ‘This is the last homeless person to die on the street.’ “

Nakuset said the situation for those on the streets is grim right now as temperatures drop and fewer spaces are available amid a COVID-19 outbreak that has reduced the capacity of some of the long-standing shelters in the city, such as Old Brewery Mission and Mission Welcome Hall.

“We have fewer safe spaces and we have a larger homeless population,” he said. “What did we learn from the death of Raphaël André almost a year later? I am very frustrated with the hope that the leaders will come up with something. “

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Resilience Montreal CEO David Chapman agreed, saying the groups have been sounding the alarm for months about the lack of warm spaces for the city’s most vulnerable.

“It was completely unnecessary,” Chapman said of Pootoogook’s death. “People in their 60s shouldn’t have to be rummaging in a warm place to be, especially when they are the first inhabitants of the earth, and ironically they are rummaging through an opulent condo building under construction.”

He said there are many ironies about Pootoogook’s case, but the cruelest one is that he died on the construction site of a condo developer who refused to include social housing units in the project.

“While there seems to be all kinds of money for this kind of development, there doesn’t seem to be money or a building for the first inhabitants of the earth to keep warm.”

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Reached Tuesday afternoon, Catherine Cadotte, spokeswoman for Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, said the city will double the amount dedicated to services for the homeless to $ 6 million a year, and plans to develop 1,200 housing units. dedicated to indigenous peoples for the next four years. . Another 23 transitional homes will also be built.

“Our administration has worked tirelessly to ensure that no one is left behind during the pandemic, especially by supporting projects for indigenous peoples, and we will continue to work together with the Quebec health care network, community organizations and the government to adequately respond to the needs. of the most vulnerable people in Montreal, ”Cadotte said in a statement.

Nakuset said the community will hold a memorial to Pootoogook at 1 p.m. Monday in Cabot Square. She invites Montréal to bring flowers to drop off at the construction site where Pootoogook’s body was found.

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