Editorial: We Sell Sanctuary 

At last, it’s March, and spring is just around the corner. Soon the trees will be budding, flowers will bloom,  and dog poo will thaw—it’s a magical time of year.

In our last Polling Station, we asked you if you voted in municipal elections and the result was an overwhelming “Yes.” Great news, but sadly this can’t be accurate. With voter participation hovering around 40%, it equates to 60% of people not giving a doggy bag of “you know what” about how their city is run.

And speaking of dogs, in 2021 an informal poll showed that residents had more passion about dog parks than about the environment. We all love our animals, and they do so much for us, but what else do citizens care about? Going into our 2025 election, what will be the top issues? Dog parks? Saving Fairview Forest? What about building social housing? At the Pointe-Claire Record, we are strong proponents of advancing social issues and believe strongly in integrating social housing into our community and not creating ghettoized neighbourhoods, but we know not everyone feels the same.

Many people complain about “overdevelopment” and “overpriced” condos, and many of these people instead argue that we need social housing, but where should it go? How will we get it off the ground? Who pays for it? Some say it’s complicated, but is it really?

West Islanders have demonstrated a great willingness to help, yet, in March 2023, when Ricochet (Hébergement/Homes), backed by the Table de Quartier Sud de l’Ouest-de-l’Île (TQSOI), proposed a social housing project where residents would pay rent equal to 25% of their salary in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, resident concerns blocked the project. In May 2024, when Ricochet was forced out by the CIUSSS-de-l’Ouest-de-l’Île de Montréal for their own programs, there was no big mobilization to accommodate a homeless shelter in any other community.

Let’s stop using social issue buzzwords to oppose things and let’s use them to do things. A drop-in centre is needed near Highway 40 and Saint-Jean Blvd., which is a transit hub for both the STM buses and the future REM station. If we are to try to make an impact in dealing with social issues, we need a place easily accessible for people to request assistance, whether it’s youth riding the train into Pointe-Claire or someone that doesn’t want to live in the woods behind Home Depot anymore.

We have great resources in our community from West-Island Mission, Ricochet, Corbeille du Pain, TQSOI, and so many more, but everyone is too spread out. A building on the vacant land next to the Olive-Urquhart Sports Centre would be ideal to house a drop-in centre, a sanctuary, if you will, for anyone in need. Let’s make “Le Sanctuaire” a top campaign issue because we all care, and making resources easily accessible is just one step towards ending the cycle of poverty.

You’ve read this far and are wondering where this idea of “Le Sanctuaire” came from. It is an idea that was started by Stepping Up, a local organization that helps the disadvantaged. To end poverty, we need to unify resources and make them easily accessible. Centralizing resources in the West Island makes sense on so many levels, from funding to accessibility.

The question now is, can we rally around an electoral cause that helps the community instead of one that divides us?