A Montreal encampment shaped Quebec’s race, but survival is top priority

MONTREAL – Dan Dumont says he hasn’t been following the Quebec election campaign.

He says he has a number of health problems, including blood clots in his brain and a metastatic cancer diagnosis. His arms and hands are covered in scabs, and he says he gets bitten by spiders and insects every night.

But while he hasn’t been paying attention to politics, he and many of his neighbours have become a flashpoint on the election campaign trail.

Dumont has been living on the street for over six years and has set up two tents in a large encampment on Notre Dame Street in Montreal’s east end. There are around 200 tents housing the local residents on the grassy strip about a stone’s throw away from magnificent views of the St-Lawrence River.

It’s a small community where a number of people say they are more concerned about the onset of cold weather than they are about the Oct. 5 election.

“I just can’t spend another winter outside,” said Dumont.

The encampment took over the election campaign news cycle after police revealed on Sept. 17 that someone had brought a baby there. City officials estimate about 180 people live on the site.

All of Quebec’s party leaders expressed outrage or said they were embarrassed by the revelations about the baby that brought issues of affordability and housing to the forefront of the campaign. The baby was even mentioned as one of the first topics raised with leaders in their third and final debate.

The Quebec government estimated there were just over 12,000 people living on the street in the province in 2025, a significant increase over the past decade. Provincial estimates indicate the number grew by 44 per cent between 2018 and 2022, followed by an additional 19 per cent increase over the next three years.

The government estimated that about 42 per cent of the province’s unhoused population lived in Montreal in 2025.

“It’s an embarrassment to our society. We’re a wealthy society,” said Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, on the campaign trail on Sept. 17. “We shouldn’t accept this.”

The encampment is located inside the riding that the PQ leader has represented in the Quebec legislature. Speaking to journalists, he said he would make the plight of unhoused people his “top priority.”

The discovery of the baby also disrupted Coalition Avenir Québec leader Christine Fréchette’s campaign, prompting her to meet with Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada on a Friday evening. Fréchette emerged from that meeting telling reporters she had promised to work with the mayor on a number of issues, including transitional housing and mental health, if her party forms government again.

But the reaction from politicians isn’t filtering through to all of the people most affected.

Dumont said he had no idea the encampment had made headlines and he had not heard of the baby who was found. He said he was too busy worrying about thieves and his health.

Still, he has a request for Quebec’s next government: to speed up repairs to the social housing stock so he can have a roof over his head.

But Dumont and some others living without housing say they are skeptical about whether the next government is prepared to take the action needed to help solve their problems or engage with them in the political process.

Community groups have also been stepping up their pressure on party leaders, staging a demonstration Wednesday morning outside the National Assembly, calling on government hopefuls to commit to solving the issue.

The head of local Quebec City shelter Maison Revivre, François Dumont, who is not related to the man at the Montreal encampment, says those working in the community sector are glad that politicians are taking homelessness seriously. But he says they need to go further.

“For us, it’s important that the message gets across. Resources are currently insufficient, both in terms of housing and services for the most vulnerable, as well as for community organizations,” he said. “The promises … don’t meet existing needs.”

Back in Montreal, a few tents over from Dan Dumont, another resident of the encampment who goes by the name of Devint was helping a man repair his bike. He set up several tents with his friends, which form a garage, a tool shed, a closet, and bedrooms, with a makeshift fence protecting them.

Devint is known as the “spokesperson” for the encampment. The Canadian Press agreed not to publish his full name because he was concerned about repercussions for possible job opportunities and for his children, who do not live in the encampment with him.

His biggest concern is whether the encampment will get torn down again, leaving him with nowhere to go. The city has cleared out the area several times in recent years, only for tents to return. A spokesperson for the city said in an email it has no plans to remove the tents from Notre-Dame.

On Wednesday, police said they had made an arrest in connection with a drug trafficking network targeting vulnerable people in the encampment. They say a 23-year-old man is facing multiple weapons and drug-related charges after police seized hard drugs and other evidence at the site.

Devint does not mince words when it comes to the electoral campaign, saying politicians are disconnected from the reality on the street. He laughed at promises to slash homelessness in half by 2030.

“How are they going to do that?” he said. “They’re nice promises that don’t go anywhere … If they want our vote, they should come down here and meet us. We’ve got some ideas on how to fix things.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2026.