Projets Autochtones breaks ground on downtown Montreal shelter for Indigenous people

Projets Autochtones du Québec broke ground Thursday on PAQ2, a $23-million facility on Sherbrooke Street West designed to serve Indigenous people experiencing homelessness in Montreal. The shelter will offer 50 cubicles, rest areas, computer stations, and workspaces, with full accessibility for people with reduced mobility.

The facility includes a supervised consumption site in the outdoor courtyard, following a harm-reduction approach. Stacy Boucher-Anthony, executive director of PAQ, said the project responds to persistent systemic inequalities. "Our solutions must imperatively be rooted in Indigenous ways of being and knowing," Boucher-Anthony said. "PAQ2 represents a concrete, dignified, and sustainable answer to improving the living conditions of the people we support."

The project received funding from federal, provincial, municipal, community and private sectors. The Quebec government provided nearly $6.5 million. Federal Minister of Indigenous Services Mandy Gull-Masty said investing in Indigenous-led projects offers sustainable solutions. "This approach fosters a culturally safe environment that is essential and adapted to the realities of urban Indigenous people experiencing homelessness, who remain overrepresented," Gull-Masty said.

Construction is expected to complete in 2028. PAQ2 will replace the organization's rented facility at Hôtel des Arts, which it has operated for over 22 years. The source does not specify how many Indigenous people experiencing homelessness currently require services or the capacity of PAQ's existing facility.