You might’ve noticed more police and less inertia in Montreal’s metros. 

That’s because the STM, Montreal’s transit authority, enacted a “move along order” in underground stations this year. If you’re doing anything other than “effectuer un déplacement,” be it sitting, napping, panhandling, taking shelter, STM constables and/or Montreal police (SPVM) can kick you out. 

Since the pandemic, more and more people, often unhoused, have been gathering at metro stations across the city. The move-along order is meant to improve public safety, but some Montrealers say we’re marginalizing the city’s most vulnerable citizens even more by pushing them back onto the streets. 

On a sweltering July day, I checked in with a couple of unhoused people I see around in the Plateau. We’ll call them Jane* and Frank*, as they’re wary of having their names in the news. It was pushing 40 degrees with the humidity, so I gave them water and Gatorade, and we talked for a bit on the benches outside the metro. I asked them if they’ve been kicked out of the metro recently. 

“Ah, anti-flânage, (anti-loitering),” Frank says, shaking his head. 

Earlier that day, Frank and Jane were napping in the metro to escape the glare of the brutal sun. Jane told me she was awoken from a deep sleep by transit constables instructing them to leave the station. The two were escorted out without a physical altercation. 

It’s practically a routine, at this point, they tell me. 

Frank says on inclement days — extreme heat, rain, cold — the metro is a good place to be, not to mention the foot traffic for panhandling. On days like that, he’ll wait a while after getting kicked out, and once it seems like the coast is clear, go back into the metro station and see how long he can last before doing the whole song and dance again.

I used to see Frank sitting and panhandling almost every time I used that metro stop until March 13 of this year. That’s when Montreal’s public transit body announced a “move along” order in metro stations across the city and blocked off areas of certain stations where people tended to gather. 

The policy was supposed to be temporary — the move-along order initially ended on April 30, 2025, with no fanfare or announcement. No one seemed to know that the policy ended, blockades stayed up, and officers continued to kick people out. 

On June 18, the STM announced the move-along order would be reinstated until April 30, 2026, during a press conference lauding its success in improving public safety.

At the press conference, Annie Savage pushed back on this positive sentiment. She’s the director at RAPSIM, a support organization for unhoused people in Montreal.

“We’re already seeing the impacts (of the move-along order),” she told reporters in a post-conference scrum. “The echoes on the ground that we experience, it’s community workers who have completely lost their connections with people. It takes years to build connections with people who already distrust our system, our network.”

Since the pandemic, homelessness in the city has exploded — but shelter spaces have not grown to meet the growing demand. In 2022, the estimated number of people experiencing homelessness in Montreal was around 4,690; now, the estimated number is closer to 10,000, according to Robert Beaudry, the city councillor responsible for homelessness in Montreal.

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There are 2,072 shelter spots available, according to a 2025 report from the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal. That means the city does not have enough shelter spots for even half of the homeless population. In this dearth, some unhoused folks have turned to metro stations as de facto shelters — until the move-along order. 

“It’s simply repression, it’s displacement,” decried Savage.

As intervention workers lose contact with their clients, unhoused people are pushed out of the public eye, where they are more likely to die in isolation — of an overdose, of health complications, of exposure. 

“It’s difficult to feel encouraged right now,” said Savage. 

“In the short term, we have to think of the daily reality of these people who are being pushed out of the metro, pushed out of the library, their camps dismantled. We don’t want them inside, we don’t want them outside, we don’t want them near our home. Everyone wants us to act, but no one is willing to compromise that their day-to-day could be impacted by the presence of people in vulnerable situations or even in distress in public spaces.”

SPVM officers and STM constables are supposed to redirect people they expel from the metro to “alternative resources,” or put them in touch with EMMIS, the city’s outreach team.

But when these resources don’t exist, people can be understandably resistant to leave the metro — something STM constable Kevin Grenier has been acutely aware of while enforcing the move-along order.

Grenier estimates that pre-pandemic, around 20 people were regularly using the metros as a de facto shelter. Now, that number is closer to 300.

“It’s not fun at all to throw someone out onto the street. If there were a number of resources, it would be easy,” says Grenier. 

“If the person chooses not to go, it would be their choice, but we’d have an exit for them. We’d be more in a state of accompaniment rather than expulsion. But now, having no resources, we’re not doing this with a light heart. It’s just that now, we’ve lost some control.”

Improving the ‘sense of safety’

The STM declined The Rover‘s interview requests, stating that it had concentrated its executives’ availability during their press conference. While The Rover did not receive an invitation to the press conference, we obtained an audio recording.

STM CEO Marie-Claude Léonard and board president Éric Alan Caldwell sang the praises of the move-along order at the June 18 press conference.

Client surveys showed that metro users’ “sense of security” increased by eight percentage points between March 13 and April 30. The STM plans to continue collecting data on the policy’s impact over the next year.

“For us, it’s conclusive and we need to continue (the move-along order) so we can refocus on our mission to move 1.1 million clients every day in a reliable and safe way to remain attractive to our clients,” said Léonard.

The public transit body has also increased STM constable and SPVM presence across key stations since February 2025, investing an additional $5.9 million in security and maintenance workers. 

“We have to acknowledge that (the STM) cannot be a shelter,” said Caldwell. “So, that’s why the board, firm in its conclusions, has made the decision to authorize a new move-along order across all metro facilities.”

Alan-Caldwell said the transit body is working alongside EMMIS and advocating for more resources for unhoused people across the city to address systemic issues. 

“We have to continue to improve the feeling of safety,” he added.

“If we want the metro to truly remain an inclusive public service, people need to feel good.”

The impacts on the ground

Charlie* is a street worker who prefers to remain anonymous to avoid jeopardizing their work. They say public safety has worsened for vulnerable people since the implementation of the move-along order. 

“They push people out thinking that these people will disappear, but they don’t have a place to go and gather,” says Charlie. “They’re human beings that need social connection, too. And for their safety, if they’re people who use drugs, to be constantly forced out, they start to hide in alleyways to consume, and the risk of fatal overdose goes up.”

In 2024, 7,146 people died of opioid-related overdoses in Canada. This marks a slight dip since 2023 (8,623 deaths), but still marks a sharp increase in reported overdose deaths since the pandemic — in 2019, there were 3,742 recorded overdose deaths. 

In Quebec, the trend went in the other direction: 2024 marked the highest amount of overdose deaths in a year — 645 people died, compared to 181 reported overdose deaths in 2017.

Charlie said that since the STM increased the police and constable presence in February, the dynamic between unhoused folks and law enforcement has deteriorated.

“Over the winter, we’ve seen increased impatience, then rudeness from the officers, the STM agents. And since the (move-along) policy, there has been zero tolerance,” says Charlie.

When enforcing the move-along order, police and STM constables often don’t work alongside intervention workers or social workers. There are only three mixed teams (EMIC trios) working for the whole city.  The teams, which are comprised of a constable, a police officer, and a social worker, cover a network of 68 metro stations.

Charlie says that they witness police violence on a regular basis. They say that more resources, not police and constables, are necessary. 

“You can tell someone ‘there are shelters,’ but they won’t make the phone calls with the person to realize the shelters are full and there is no alternative. This person might literally not have shoes, and it’s -30 outside. I’m not seeing them work to try to refer or redirect someone [taking shelter in the metros] elsewhere.” 

Charlie avoids working with the police and STM constables to maintain trust with their clients. They say they witness officers harming, not helping, vulnerable individuals, including using violence and fines. 

“Some people continue to go in the metro, because panhandling, it’s their alternative way of making a living, considering the social assistance cheques aren’t really enough to live off of. It’s brought a huge stress on these people. And now, they can’t stay sitting, they have to stand. It’s also allowed (law enforcement) to give out fines like ‘improper use of urban property,’ because you’re sleeping on a bench, and it’s not made for sleeping on. So this approach has become more severe,” they say. 

Police and constable responses have become more frequent since the incident hotline was established in November — Charlie calls it the “snitch line.”

“We’re separating citizens between people who are unhoused and housed citizens who are bothered. We’re trying to make the distinction: is it disruptive or is it dangerous? I think a lot of people will mix up the two,” says Charlie. 

‘We’re not ending homelessness, we’re ending homeless people’

I visited Resilience Montreal, one of the few day shelters in the city. Next to Cabot Square by Atwater Metro, it’s a popular spot. When it first opened in 2019, Resilience was serving 300 meals a day. Now, it’s up to 1,200.

David Chapman, the shelter’s director, gave me a tour of the crowded facility.

Entering the shelter, we’re greeted by a wall of photos of Resilience clients who died of overdoses. Chapman says it’s increasing all the time.

We snake through people in line to get a hot meal and peruse through items at the clothing post. He shows me two levels of sleeping quarters — dozens of small mats on the floor, almost all of them occupied by people getting some much-needed rest, divided by low, clear partitions.

We enter the sweltering basement, where piles of clothes await sorting, and the washer and dryer heat up the space as they clean the hundreds of towels the facility uses every day. We eventually make our way to Chapman’s office, a small, windowless room with concrete walls and a desktop computer.

“This is how you know you’ve made it!” jokes Chapman cheerfully. 

Since the move-along order has been enacted, Chapman says Resilience’s services have been in higher demand. 

“We’re not in the habit of turning away people per se,” Chapman says, “But what happens is when there’s a shortage of resources like food or beds, there’s a certain segment of the unhoused population who, as things get busier, will just not bother with us.” 

Chapman says metro stations are, in fact, not set up to be homeless shelters — but unhoused folks don’t have many other options.

“If resources like Resilience Montreal were open in every neighbourhood, then it would not be a big deal to sort of have a ‘no-loitering’ policy in the metros,” Chapman says. “The problem is that they’re bringing in a no-loitering policy without simultaneously bringing in a better alternative.” 

The reasons for this: a lack of willingness from neighbourhoods (the infamous “not in my backyard” attitude) and a lack of political will. 

Quebec is allocating $24 million to Montreal to help move people out of encampments — but only 9 per cent of that is going to emergency shelters like Resilience. Every year, Resilience has to make up for the shortfall in funding with private donors.  

This year, the shelter is expanding its operations and relocating to a new location. Chapman says that while investing in transitional housing and rent subsidies is important, not enough funding is going towards emergency services. 

As emergency resources get more crowded, and as homeless people are pushed out of metros and encampments, many will become more difficult to find.

“They’ll go find some hidden spot in underground city infrastructure, some tunnel … some hidden-away forested brush corner where they can hide alone,” says Chapman. “And if they happen to be using street drugs, there’s a good probability that that’s where the end of their life will come. So when we’re unwilling to invest in these intermediary measures and when we’re wanting to keep it to the bare minimum, we’re not ending homelessness, but we are ending homeless people.”

The Women’s Centre of Montréal’s 2024-2025 annual report states that “the new measures implemented by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), including a ban on loitering in the metro and on the use of metro stations as refuges by unhoused people, reduced our contacts with some participants we used to meet with in metro stations. This made it harder to contact those who do not have a means of communication.” 

Unlike Toronto and Calgary, Montreal does not track the number of unhoused people who die of overdoses. According to Chapman, “It’s a convenient number not to know” when the city evaluates the impacts of its policies.

Chapman says that the move-along order will inevitably increase tensions within metro stations.

“I know everyone wants to sort of critique the cops, but the problem is they’re being brought in to do a kind of ridiculous job. They’re the poor guys who have to implement the bad plan… you’re essentially setting up the cops to do inhumane tasks,” says Chapman.

“We’re setting up an exchange which is going to lead to conflict,” he added.

‘We’re dreading winter’

Grenier, president of the STM constables’ union (Fraternité des Constables et Agents de la Paix de la STM), expressed reservations about the move-along order in a Zoom interview with The Rover. 

“The timing was good to implement (the move-along order) because it was getting warm out. We’re really dreading the upcoming winter because then, the extreme cold will arrive, and that’s when we’ll risk having to use force towards people to get them out,” says Grenier.

Grenier says that with the current shortage of shelter resources, he understands why some people don’t want to leave the metro — and he is not looking forward to this winter. 

“They don’t have a place to go. Me too, I’d resist if someone were trying to kick me out of my home. I’d want to stay here in the warmth and comfort, not out at -40 outside,” he added.

Grenier says that constables are trained in de-escalation and strive to take their time during interventions with unhoused folks. But it’s not enough when there isn’t much outside follow-up or anywhere for vulnerable people to go.

He blames government inaction for this lack of resources.

“If (the provincial and municipal governments) show leadership, they would do everything to open resources and hire the necessary employees. Empty buildings, there are lots in Montreal. If they’re lacking employees, they need to ask themselves why. Is it a question of benefits, salary? Probably. 

“We see and work alongside (intervention workers). It’s extremely difficult. Obviously, those workers need follow-up, psychological accompaniment because it’s draining,” he says. 

‘The subway cannot be a shelter’

In its new report on homelessness, Montreal’s public consultation office (OCPM) stated that there is a “major deficit” in governance in the fight against homelessness at all levels of government. 

The OCPM urged the city of Montreal to take stronger leadership and mobilize all possible resources to increase services for unhoused people. 

The city held a press conference reacting to the OCPM’s report on July 10. Beaudry, the city councillor, called the homelessness situation “a humanitarian crisis” but stopped short of declaring a state of emergency. Beaudry also stated that the city would not heed the report’s recommendation to stop dismantling homeless encampments due to public safety concerns.

The Rover asked if the city felt it had been pre-emptive in endorsing the STM’s move-along order, given the current lack of shelter capacity.

“The subways cannot be a shelter. The park cannot be a shelter,” said Beaudry. “Those people need and deserve services, and it’s really important as a city to work with the Gouvernement du Québec to work to create those resources.”

Beaudry pointed to how fast the city acted to increase shelter beds in 2020, using vacant hotels as temporary shelters and increasing shelter capacity. However, he said he could not estimate how many new shelter spaces would be available by this coming winter. 

‘Every single (shelter) was full’

Myriam, a student and research assistant, found out about the shelter shortage firsthand when she tried to help an unhoused woman, Ruth*, find shelter. 

On a cold April evening, Ruth approached Myriam and her friend as they were entering the Sherbooke metro. Ruth had just been discharged from the hospital for treatment of a frostbitten foot, and she was on crutches. She told the two younger women about the dangers of sleeping outside as a woman and knew that in her weakened state, she would not be able to spend the night in the cold. She asked them to help her find food and shelter for the night.

“Ever since Valérie Plante came out with this cracking down of the metros, it’s just common knowledge at this point that (the metro) is not an option. She couldn’t stay there. This is not a place to rest,” says Myriam.

Myriam and her friend began calling shelters to see if anyone had space. 

“This really opened my eyes to the shelter system in Montreal… It was this back and forth of calling like 10 different shelters that would just refer me to the shelter I already called because every single one of them was full,” she recalls, eyes wide. 

She tried to book Ruth a bed at a hostel, but the rooms were up some stairs, and they were met with judgmental eyes from hostel guests. 

“When (Ruth) went into the washroom, there was a male guest, who was like, ‘Oh, she’s going to use the shower, and she’s going to dirty the shower.’ And then as soon as she came out of the washroom, he took it upon himself to kick her out, even though he didn’t even work there,” says Myriam. 

She and her friend ended up crowdsourcing money from her friends to pay for a hotel room for Ruth for the night, which cost about $150. 

“It was apparent how dignifying it is to have a bedroom to yourself, and a bathroom, and your own space and food. To have a secure space is a basic need. To have food, to have accessibility, are basic needs,” she says.

Violence testimony

Detained for filming

Content warning: The following section contains descriptions and footage of violence that may be disturbing to some readers. 

Despite claims from both the SPVM and STM constables that they are trained in de-escalation, multiple witnesses sent in statements and/or videos of officers using what they felt to be excessive force towards people on the metro. Witnesses have also recorded officers discouraging them from filming or blocking their cameras. 

Julie* has been filming police and constable interactions in Montreal’s metro stations for years. Her name has been changed for legal concerns.

“Whenever I see unhoused folks get removed from the metro, or just anyone, I stand by, I’m a witness to it. In case something happens, cops are typically less willing to do direct violence if someone is actively recording them.” 

However, she recently experienced pushback for exerting her legal right to film law enforcement in action. In early March, shortly before the move-along order was implemented, Julie* was detained in public for recording four special constables removing two presumably unhoused people from a metro station on the Green Line. 

“My friend and I were very peacefully recording them. [My friend] voiced her displeasure with them… saying ‘This isn’t cool.’ And then they detained both of us.”

This isn’t the first time Julie* has been met with these kinds of consequences.

“I’ve been accused of breaking their regulations. I’ve been accused of harassing special constables… [for] filming and criticizing their actions… voicing a political statement that I am displeased with what they’re doing as someone who pays for a metro ticket, as someone who is a resident of the city. I’ve used the metro for over 13 years now.”

Julie* says that since the move-along order has been put into effect, police and constables have been more aggressive towards people filming them escorting people out of the metro or simply interacting with unhoused folks there. 

“We’ve seen a lot of people get detained, get ticketed, get harassed by special constables for trying to be in solidarity with the people who are targeted by this regulation.”

January 14, 2025

While exiting St. Laurent station on Jan. 14, Elena saw a man skip the metro turnstile. Two STM constables immediately blocked him and began to shove him towards the exit. 

“He got angry, yelling that [the STM constables] could not shove him or touch him. That’s what he kept yelling when they grabbed him and threw him back over the turnstiles… They kept shoving him. Then they pepper-sprayed him and tackled him to the ground,” said Elena. 

Five more constables joined in the fray. Elena began to film when the man was being held down by four officers. In the video, you hear the restrained man say in French, “You started pushing me. It’s you who started it. There are plenty of witnesses here who will say so… You think I’m going to remain calm?”

Elena said that the two constables who had begun shoving the man were trying to get people to stop filming, which can be seen in the video at the 0:51 mark. 

“[One of these constables] came up to my face and told me to back up, that arrests were ugly, that they would call him an ambulance if he was hurt, that this was my last warning if I didn’t move out of the way. I couldn’t find their names on their vests, I looked… After crushing him for 5-10 minutes, they threw him in [the maintenance closet]. I could see them searching him and pinning him to the wall. I could hear him screaming. My friend passed by 15 minutes later and he was unconscious in the maintenance closet with all the special constables. I have no idea what happened.”

May 19, 2025

On May 19, during the brief period when the move-along order wasn’t in effect, Sofia and a friend saw a man sitting on the ground surrounded by four police officers. He appeared to be under arrest, but Sofia did not understand why — the man seemed just to be sitting there, minding his own business. 

She and her friend started filming, and the police began to arrest the man. An officer told them to back up. Sofia’s friend was blocked from filming, but as Sofia walks with a cane, they gave her more space, allowing her to film more of the interaction. When they questioned why he was being arrested, they refused to tell her, citing confidentiality reasons. She eventually overheard that it was because he gave the police a fake name, and the officer said, “Good for you, but it’s not up to me to tell you that.” She asked if it was due to the new move-along policy. “Do I have to tell you that?” an officer retorted.

The officers repeatedly told Sofia and her friend that what was happening wasn’t any of their business. When Sofia told the officers that they were staying to witness the arrest because it was “violent,” an officer scoffed and said, “This is violent?” 

Meanwhile, her friend was talking to the man to find out where he was staying so she could notify the shelter that he was being arrested. 

“The police officers were interrupting my comrade who was trying to talk to the person,” said Sofia.

“The man wasn’t in confrontational mode… He wanted to communicate with us. He gave us his name willingly… If the police weren’t imposing themselves, it would have been super fluid,” recalled Sofia. 

June 15, 2025

An anonymous person on Signal sent a video from June 15 at the Berri-UQAM metro station. Officers arrested a man who was throwing small pieces of trash onto the tracks, and she began filming. 

“That man was too close to the track gap and was throwing minor objects like trash across, but not hurting anyone or anything,” they said. 

The video shows a man being restrained against a wall and thanking them for filming. 

“Not caught on camera, unfortunately, is the cop with the man bun walking up to that man and yanking him backwards using his backpack, then immediately putting his hand around the man’s throat without warning or any effort of de-escalation,” they said in a message. 

SPVM communications officer Mélanie Bergeron declined The Rover‘s interview request regarding the move-along order, stating: “Seeing as it’s an STM policy and this is happening in our network, we’d invite you to contact their communications team.” 

When pushed, saying that there had been reports of excessive use of force during arrests in the metro stations, they replied: “After verifying, the STM measure doesn’t have an effect on our end.”

A follow-up email was sent regarding officers blocking people from filming, but neither the STM constables nor the SPVM responded by deadline.

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