I just got back from Vancouver to film the next video of this series. It’ll be out next week, sos subscribe and turn on notifications! Thanks for watching and supporting my channel by using an affiliate link in this video’s description. -Griffin
Hi, Montrealer here. You were not in the right place. The Homeless are a) inside Shelters, b) inside the Subway, c) in front of Grocery Stores begging for money, d) at Intersections waiting for cars to stop to beg for money.
@@tunc34they tolerate homeless people in the subways stations way more here in Montreal then Toronto . I’ve found it that way anyways. Although i don’t see a lot of the metro stations in Toronto when I visit.
Please do a video on Toronto. I grew up in Toronto for most of my life. Since I moved from there over 8 years ago, homelessness has gone from bad to worse. The cost of housing over the last 10 years has skyrocketed not only in Toronto but the entire GTA ( Greater Toronto Area ), including Pickering, Ajax, Whiby, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Mississauga and Brampton. At one point last year I even saw a homeless tent in rural Caledon in Peel Region near Brampton and one in the town of Orangeville in Dufferin County. (One hour north of Brampton on Highway 10)
Canada is more screwed than Canadians are aware of. It's going to get a LOT worse and your government is hiding that information from you, regardless of party.
I was absent from Montreal for 11 months and came back at the beginning of the year. There are definitely more homeless people. Things are getting worst. Now they are at almost every metro stations.
@@pqunitThis always happened and it’s even worse outside the western world FYI, the only thing that changed is the documentation. Homelessness was way worse in the 80s but you’d only hear about in magazines and forget about it.
@@aimxdy8680 Homelessness is way worse now than it was in the 80s. Income is way lower, and the cost of living is way higher, than the median 80s income set for inflation. Mathematically we also have so many more people than we did in the 80s. Your country is uberfucked, remember that you tried to explain that it's ok.
@You obviously cant do research, median household income as of 2023 is 80K USD (us census), meanwhile in 1985 it was 23,600 USD, adjusting for inflation that is 60,050 USD also from the US census while households had much more people back in the 80s.
@@seanothepop4638 Median HH income as of 2023 is 80K USD, Meanwhile median HH income as of 1985 is 23600 USD, adjusting for inflation that’s only 60K, and 1980s households had way more people inside. No data supports your comment.
A few thoughts after watching your video As others have mentioned, you didn’t cover some of the key areas where homelessness is most visible. Given that we’re in mid-January, many unhoused individuals have either relocated or are concentrated in the Beaudry Metro area, near where I live in the Gay Village. During the spring, summer, and fall, the intersection of Panet and St. Catherine right outside my door becomes chaotic, with people openly smoking crack on the sidewalks and using heroin on the benches. When you passed Place d’Armes and pointed your camera down the alley, it’s worth noting that in warmer months, that spot is packed with hundreds of homeless individuals and those struggling with addiction. I’m originally from Vancouver, so I know firsthand what a tent city looks like. Montreal certainly has its own, with encampments in St-Henri, Verdun, and the Upper Plateau before Rosemont. Like other major Canadian cities, the crisis here is very real it’s disheartening to witness. I like what your doing showing people what's actually going on whomever comes into power has a lot of work to do and hopefully the powers to be in all our major cities actually do something to help and change what's going on but I'm sure that is 10 more videos to explain all that.
The reason that you don't see that many people outside Saint-Catherine St. is that most shoppers would be inside the Underground City (RESO). It's our underground shopping galleries connecting the downtown shopping buildings, metro stations and other places like McGill and Concordia University. Great place to stay warm in Winter and that's where you'll also see the homeless as they stay in shelters or metro stations during those times.
Born and raised here. And shits hitting the fan. Theyre pushing us out 🤷🏾♂️ slowly but surely. City is full of culture and energy. But that vybe is slowly dying since residents are slowly getting pushed out to the outskirts sort of like the GTA and students/foreigners who have the money from abroad occupy the city. The overall maintenance of the city is lacking. Construction is complete garbage and we know why. Quebec is known for building horribly we know who controls the construction companies.
Bienvenue à Montréal! Glad to see you in town. Definitely a summer city. The city is a whole different experience in summer. Rent has been going up recently which why I am considering moving out of city Centre. The roads are SO BAD!
La classe moyenne a tendance à quitter Montréal pour les banlieues. Malgré l'augmentation des loyers ces dernières années, Montréal demeure quand même une des grandes villes les plus abordables au Canada.
I lived in Montreal from 2009 through 2014 and it was the best city. You can walk on St Catherine after leaving the bars @3am and it was awesome. This video makes me sad
Yes it has, definitely. Trying to just show it how it is and give my impartial take on things how they appear. I hope that’s come through in my commentary
If you ever get the chance, please do this style of video in Halifax. It would be nice to put a spotlight on some of the issues on the East coast so things can be improved! 👍
I've lived most of the last 43 years in Montreal.I've lived in London England,Paris France,Rio & Salvador Brazil,Buenos Aires Argentina,NYC,San Francisco,Vancouver BC and a couple of small towns and I always come back to Montreal.I LOVE IT!! It's always interesting and never boring!! The best city in Canada and considered one of the best in the world according to Time Out 2025!! You should have driven North on St Laurent from Old Montreal up to St Joseph and the back down on St Denis and along St Paul in Old Montreal and De La Commune are nice like old Europe! There are beautiful areas everywhere!! Where you said it was Place d'Armes was Chinatown.Place d'Armes is on Notre Dame in the old Montreal across from La Cathédrale Notre Dame.
One of the best cities in the world? With crippling infrastructure, high taxes, 0 innovation and unfriendly to businesses, bad weather, unsocial people, and depressing to live in. I hope this is sarcasm
All the homeless people are hidden during winter. Come back here when the weather is warm and go to Hoshelaga neighborhood. You will be shocked by the amounts of tents and homeless people. There are some tents now, actually. You need to drive along the river going south on the Notre Dame Est boulevard.
I live in Hochelaga and I counted nearly 100 tents biking from rue Dickson to downtown in the summer. Most of them were clean and orderly but 20% were total chaos. An eye sore . Obviously methheads hording stuff. Some spilling into people’s back yards which made them furious .
Go to areas that are inaccessible by foot such as the gay village. You will see a whole different side of the city with regards to what you are looking for. Some of the worst parts of the city are closed to car traffic.
Here's an idea. Instead paying shareholders dividends, we pay people fair salaries so that more people are willing to work? I mean, surely this radical concept that workers are more important than speculators, has worked in the past. Canada and the US were at their peak when top marginal tax rates were 70% or higher. There is NO sense to making millionaires, even richer.
In London , U.K, population almost 10 million , greater than 1 in 50 of the population homeless, around 500,000. At the rate in Montreal, it would be around 20,000 - 25,000. I think a problem across the western world.
As a Senior in Toronto, bad, bad, bad. Wish I could move but rents have doubled, hate where I live. Well I am lucky I am out of the cold. 10 international students in a 1 bedroom brought roaches to the building, I HAVE never experienced this is my life, it is horrible.
1. My great grandfather came here just over 100yrs ago and was literal child labour, going to work dressed in a shirt made from a potato sack because they couldn't afford clothes. Most Canadians don't realize how bad poverty has been at times in Canada's history, because it was far away from their experience and their grandparents just shut up about it. 2. Whether anyone here cares to admit it or not, crime per capita was worse 30yrs ago in every "western" developed country. Again - if you didn't know it's cause it was far away from you, there was no internet and people just shut up about it. 3. What's happening now is we're teetering on the edge of another Great Depression like the 1930s. It's happening all over the "western" developed world. And it's been brewing for decades. Just like with the Great Recession of 2008, it's mostly centred around housing. We didn't fix the underlying problems with the housing market and the banking system and they've only gotten worse since. The pandemic and the massive influx of immigrants after has just exacerbated the problem, made it worse. THAT's why you're seeing it now.
The U.S.A. Is going to boom under Trump. Canada needs to get rid of Trudeau. Trump hates him and won’t give Canada a break until he is gone. Poilievre will have his hands full trying to fix the damage the liberals have done over the past 9 years.
Montreal is a bubble within a bubble, it does not reflect the pulse of the country. Language is number one, because of language less than 5% of new comers stay in Quebec within the first few years of living in Quebec. This plays a huge impact of the cost of living crisis that the rest of the country is facing.
Montreal has a HUGE immigrant population. The laws around housing kept the rental market artificially low for a long time. And the language laws negatively impacted the economy.
In the City of Kendallville, Indiana, United States of America,it is unlawful to be Homeless or to hold up a sign asking for Help, punishable with fines and/or Incarceration. Note: Kendallville, Indiana is about 41 km north of Ft. Wayne, Indiana where it is not Illegal to be Homeless or hold up a sign asking for help.
Here in the US people have wanted to remove Christopher Columbus’ statue, because he had slaves or something. Apparently NOW having a statue of him is a problem.
@@001sander2no they’re erasing it. Most of them don’t know just how important John A MacDonald was to Canada’s history and democracy that makes it the best country in the world
I'm a big lefty that has lived in Ottawa and Montreal for years each, right up to the pandemic. Ottawa does seem to be hit hard by the pandemic, but areas like sparks street have been dying for a long time (whereas the Rideau Centre has been massively renovated, for better or worse, it's quite big and clean). One thing we can't forget is online shopping. Especially after the pandemic, people are so used to ordering everything online now. It's hard for brick and mortar shops to compete. Montreal looks to be exactly as I left it around 2018. Amazing city with incredible culture, street fashion, and just an absolute sense of being alive. The metro (subway) feels relatively safe and is so fast to get anywhere in the city for cheap. If you were to go again, you might want to walk through some of the metro stations to check for homelessness, as they are giant, warm areas. Oh, and for those considering Montreal, you can easily get by with little French, as all retail / shops speak English. However, jobs are much harder to get without French.
Fellow Montrealer here. I do think things have gotten a bit worse since the pandemic. Rents are getting very high now, homelessness is worse. But the sky isn't falling. And these problems have been building for a long time
Leftist policies are why I purchase most things online. Leftist policies are why drug use is through the roof. Not sure why anyone would be proud of voting for such policies.
You don't go in the winter time and say that you didn't see homelessness. Like others have said, you weren't going to the right places. You also cannot see much if you stay in a car, driving around, instead of walking around. Respectfully, I think you were there to visit a friend and you didn't put much effort in your video.
The homeless are inside when the metro is open during winter, the heating room are going to close down now. The homeless camps get ransacked every chance they can. Berri Papineau Beaudry, Place D'armes, Atwater Lionel Groulx are all hubs.
13:40 you won't see homeless people in the main city centers, unless they're like really bad parts of those City centers... Keep in mind that we have authority figures that control the homeless population, and make sure that the more touristy spots are clean of homelessness. Toronto is harder to do that with, but I'm pretty sure Montreal has that down. You also have homeless people that live in their cars that are pretty hard to see unless you look really close.
Question for Montrealers, why do so many of your buildings have stairs outside instead of a incased staircase that is shared? Everytime i visit i just think of how terrible it must be in the winter with them covered in snow and ice
You didn't see much homeless people because they hang out inside the metro stations, and in the hallways of various buildings including residential buildings if the front doors are not locked. Montreal is an underground city, we all try to flee the vivid cold the best we can! If you took a car ride in the night when everything is closed you would have seen some stuff, also, going near Terminus Voyageur (Station Berri UQAM) and around metro St-Laurent and the nearby downtown metro stations would have been your best bet. That said, it's not that bad, but it's not sweet either out here... Like, i went to the bank this week and 3 ppl were hanging out in their sleeping bags INSIDE the premises, just aside the money withdrawal machines! It was near De L'Eglise station (a well known hanging spot for natives and other marginals). I never saw this bank filled up as bad, sadly there are firsts for everything i guess. On a side note, you mentioned the graffiti culture... There is a big difference between art and street gang tags. Those proliferates lately, sadly. There's nothing cultural about defacing property. Edit: someone mentionned Notre dame street. Yeah, that spot near the port is filled up to the brim with tents, it's crazy. Nothing gets done by the city/gov to help despite all the taxes we pay, it's just so sad.
I’m back in the UK now , but christ the driving in Montreal. Cars in the U.K. have a vigorous annual inspection . In Montreal wrecked rust buckets everywhere, jumping red lights all the time , a real rarity in the U.K.
I can’t seem to feel anything for that missing statue, but it is sad to see how desolate the city looks. The Main Street looks reasonably alive. When we visited Toronto last June (2024) it was a little more alive than either Montreal or Ottawa. In general most Canadian cities seem to be taking on a recession-like appearance. The retail vacancies are just getting started, I think.
First of all, I am not surprised that the homeless are less in evidence during the very cold winter months in Montreal. They probably use the shelters more frequently during this season. Secondly, I wonder if there are places that are known for having homeless encampments. After all, a homelessness problem doesn't mean that you'll see homeless people everywhere. A little research done beforehand on well-known homeless encampments, assuming they exist, or at least on areas known for concentrations of homeless people, might have been more revealing. It would have certainly been more helpful than driving around the city randomly in the middle of January.
10,000 people out of a metro area of 4M is 1/4 of 1% homeless...but still too high and housing affordability a growing problem...your comments about decaying infrastructure is overblown...there has been significant renewal (new champlain bridge, new turcot interchange, new REM mass transit system)...the expressway and rail network are entirely functional...traffic congestion can be largely avoided through planning you trips to avoid rush hours if you're driving and using our comprehensive rapid mass transit if necessary. our mass transit is generally cheaper than other cities.
so many of your comments are inaccurate - I am a lifelong resident of Montreal.....I have never seen anything as degarded as vancouver downtown east-side...that makes the worst of montreal's problems seem like a picnic..Our climate is simply too cold for that kind of mass vagrancy, open drug use (disgusting) and such dire hopelessness...as for the potholes, they are an issue but have little impact on mobility...they are a minor nuisance to people that live here. it has to do with extreme frost thaw cycles, the fact that most of montreal is quite old and most importantly, we have other priorities besides having pristine asphalt (like culture, and inexpensive education)...retail vacancy is a small problem due to the transition to on-line buying and big-box stores in the suburbs.
You also gotta remember man, not everyone drives. Lots of people in montreal live car-free and get around by bike or transit, bc its practical and possible with the infrastructure. So, you did miss a lot of the city by staying in your car for the majority of the video.
Would you still recommend I move to Gatineau Quebec from Ontario side? I was thinking of buying a duplex jointly with my son and sometimes they sell for $400k in lac de fee area. Where else can u buy a duplex this close to Ottawa for less than $600k
Not to nit pic, however at 14:41 what looks like a bus shelter has the entrance blocked with cardboard and debris. It sure looks like a mini homeless site.
Kido, get off your car and visit any of the metro stations in downtown.. there are some streets that are covered in graffiti for miles, but that’s not the worse of it.. most of Montreal uses the metro system and those have to deal with bum bullshit all day (most homeless are chill but some stupid junkies can be very loud and stupid).
You HAVE to visit Edmonton when visiting Alberta. Its situation is worse than Calgary's and WAY worse than Montréal's. On my first visit to downtown Edmonton (I lived one year there) I saw people shooting up drugs, shitting in public and even a couple of druggies having sex in a cranny on the busiest avenue (Jasper) at around 7am. I ultimately left after I was physically attacked in the face by a homeless zombie. That city is lost.
I moved to Montréal about 4 months ago after a visit last July and it's a totally different situation than Edmonton's. I'm not afraid of taking the public transit here, I still haven't seen piles of needles on the ground as I used to see there and still no people carrying knives in their pockets (not that rare of a sight downtown Edmonton). I feel safe and improving my French (I pretend I don't speak English) has been a fun challenge.
We've hit rock bottom and starting to climb out just about now. If you're negative and pessimistic, you're correct more often than not but you're unlikely to be part of the solution. Really sad to Canadian content makers playing it so cheap and appealing to fear porn. We're still blessed to have extremely prosperous lives by any standards. The real issue is the meaning crisis and lack community and culture.
12 millions, for nothing, no social housing…we need affordable appartements, studios for single and couple and 2 bedrooms for family…always money in the garbage 😢 when you see new building it’s condos, not affordable…
i'm in sitting in my apartment off St-Laurent Blvd in the Plateau neighbourhood ....allI an say ,you don't know the half of it !!!.Iv'e been here sine I was born in'78....left for 10 years in 2010 and came back to a completely different (and dead)city ...Biggest thing you forgot to mention every aspect of the city has always been run by Italian Mafia and the hells Agels also play a big roll
its cold, homeless people and their emcampment won't be out in the open but if you take notre dame street east, you will see alot. you just have t know where.
More then 15 years in MTL from northern Quebec. It's getting insane, mass immigration caused this. The lack of affordable housing ia the root cause. Trudeau caused this, he destroyed the canadian economy and on top of that he want to put a carbon tax. The appartement crisis is the worst, I got a 300$ increase to an appartement that hasn't have a change since the 1980's. I have been trying to get a bigger appartement and it's 1200 to 1500 for a 1 bedroom with no laundry plugs and for a 2 bedroom is 1500 to 1800$ abd that not the luxurious ones that the lowest end without insonorisation and very old buildings. That's pretty insane... been saving for the first time home buyer thing for 2 years now and should be able to move to a 300 to 400 000 condon or house this year after I get my tax return and on top of that my wife is pregnant so we need to move ASAP..
0:40 doesn't the headline directly contradicts the title? It says 10,000 for the province and you put 10,000 for the city? lmao edit: also, no, Montreal doesn't have a higher homelessness rate than BC. At least nothing I can find indicates that. In fact, statcan indicates BC has about 23% of the homeless population in Canada vs Quebec 12%. Despite BC being about a little over 1/2 of Quebec population... Where do you get your data, dude? 12:20 insane statement lmao. Ste Catherine isn't even close to 50% vacant. It's for sure not mega bustling, but lmao at your attempt at dramatization when you realize it's really not that bad so make up scenario. To find the hobos, I think the cops just kinda still shuffle them into specific spots, specifically Berri and Chinatown. The metros, sadly, kinda become the hotspots for the homeless population
I grew up in Toronto for most of my life. Since I moved from there over 8 years ago, homelessness has gone from bad to worse. The cost of housing over the last 10 years has skyrocketed not only in Toronto but the entire GTA. ( Greater Toronto Area )
I'm watching this from koh Samui Thailand and miss Montreal. I've lived in the city, on and off since 1980 and love many things about it. Except for the winter. I'll be back in April for the summer.
Prince George, British Columbia, is home to a legal encampment known as Moccasin Flats. The encampment has garnered significant attention due to a ruling by a judge that permitted individuals to legally camp there. While the encampment has experienced a decline over the past year, it remains an important initiative that could set a precedent across Canada if the community were to provide greater support.
Lol.. Canabis is in crisis for some.. but not most. I am sure there is at least one boomer homeowner waking up saying: ".. i wonder what the poor people are doing today?"
I just got back from Vancouver to film the next video of this series. It’ll be out next week, sos subscribe and turn on notifications! Thanks for watching and supporting my channel by using an affiliate link in this video’s description.
-Griffin
Looking forward to the Vancouver vid!!
@@SophieAnnaston east hastings for the win.
East Hastings gonna get another video 😂
No shot Griffen walks down east Hastings lol
Now I know who to blame for bringing the cold snap currently gripping the city! lol
Hi, Montrealer here. You were not in the right place. The Homeless are a) inside Shelters, b) inside the Subway, c) in front of Grocery Stores begging for money, d) at Intersections waiting for cars to stop to beg for money.
same in Toronto, they sleep in stereetcars and subways, it smells so BAD in there now
There would be no homelessness in Montreal if they were all outside because they would freeze to death every winter.
You forgot inside residential buildings' entryways.
@@tunc34they tolerate homeless people in the subways stations way more here in Montreal then Toronto . I’ve found it that way anyways. Although i don’t see a lot of the metro stations in Toronto when I visit.
And coughing at you at an unjustifiably long Tim Horton line
Canada economy declining and at the same time seeing record immigration. Coincidence?
The record immigration is to prop up the numbers due to declining birth rates.
Just makes more homeless
Immigration is exacerbating problems that have been here for decades.
@@gavinlew8273 Immigrants are having the same amount of children as canadian and are less productive. wich is a burden on the economic system.
Request more billionaires
Please do a video on Toronto.
I grew up in Toronto for most of my life. Since I moved from there over 8 years ago, homelessness has gone from bad to worse.
The cost of housing over the last 10 years has skyrocketed not only in Toronto but the entire GTA ( Greater Toronto Area ), including Pickering, Ajax, Whiby, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Mississauga and Brampton.
At one point last year I even saw a homeless tent in rural Caledon in Peel Region near Brampton and one in the town of Orangeville in Dufferin County. (One hour north of Brampton on Highway 10)
Canada is more screwed than Canadians are aware of. It's going to get a LOT worse and your government is hiding that information from you, regardless of party.
You had to drive along Notre Dame street to see all Camping Tents set up
I was absent from Montreal for 11 months and came back at the beginning of the year. There are definitely more homeless people. Things are getting worst. Now they are at almost every metro stations.
It's happening all over the "western" world
@@pqunitThis always happened and it’s even worse outside the western world FYI, the only thing that changed is the documentation. Homelessness was way worse in the 80s but you’d only hear about in magazines and forget about it.
@@aimxdy8680 Homelessness is way worse now than it was in the 80s. Income is way lower, and the cost of living is way higher, than the median 80s income set for inflation. Mathematically we also have so many more people than we did in the 80s. Your country is uberfucked, remember that you tried to explain that it's ok.
@You obviously cant do research, median household income as of 2023 is 80K USD (us census), meanwhile in 1985 it was 23,600 USD, adjusting for inflation that is 60,050 USD also from the US census while households had much more people back in the 80s.
@@seanothepop4638 Median HH income as of 2023 is 80K USD, Meanwhile median HH income as of 1985 is 23600 USD, adjusting for inflation that’s only 60K, and 1980s households had way more people inside. No data supports your comment.
A few thoughts after watching your video As others have mentioned, you didn’t cover some of the key areas where homelessness is most visible. Given that we’re in mid-January, many unhoused individuals have either relocated or are concentrated in the Beaudry Metro area, near where I live in the Gay Village.
During the spring, summer, and fall, the intersection of Panet and St. Catherine right outside my door becomes chaotic, with people openly smoking crack on the sidewalks and using heroin on the benches. When you passed Place d’Armes and pointed your camera down the alley, it’s worth noting that in warmer months, that spot is packed with hundreds of homeless individuals and those struggling with addiction.
I’m originally from Vancouver, so I know firsthand what a tent city looks like. Montreal certainly has its own, with encampments in St-Henri, Verdun, and the Upper Plateau before Rosemont. Like other major Canadian cities, the crisis here is very real it’s disheartening to witness. I like what your doing showing people what's actually going on whomever comes into power has a lot of work to do and hopefully the powers to be in all our major cities actually do something to help and change what's going on but I'm sure that is 10 more videos to explain all that.
The reason that you don't see that many people outside Saint-Catherine St. is that most shoppers would be inside the Underground City (RESO). It's our underground shopping galleries connecting the downtown shopping buildings, metro stations and other places like McGill and Concordia University. Great place to stay warm in Winter and that's where you'll also see the homeless as they stay in shelters or metro stations during those times.
Born and raised here. And shits hitting the fan. Theyre pushing us out 🤷🏾♂️ slowly but surely. City is full of culture and energy. But that vybe is slowly dying since residents are slowly getting pushed out to the outskirts sort of like the GTA and students/foreigners who have the money from abroad occupy the city. The overall maintenance of the city is lacking. Construction is complete garbage and we know why. Quebec is known for building horribly we know who controls the construction companies.
Bienvenue à Montréal!
Glad to see you in town. Definitely a summer city. The city is a whole different experience in summer. Rent has been going up recently which why I am considering moving out of city Centre.
The roads are SO BAD!
How much for one bedroom in Montreal in Jean Talon area average
La classe moyenne a tendance à quitter Montréal pour les banlieues. Malgré l'augmentation des loyers ces dernières années, Montréal demeure quand même une des grandes villes les plus abordables au Canada.
I lived in Montreal from 2009 through 2014 and it was the best city. You can walk on St Catherine after leaving the bars @3am and it was awesome. This video makes me sad
It's winter, they are all inside the metro stations, malls, etc... I left MTL for a far suburb 2 years ago and never regretted a single moment.
II’m from Montreal and lived in Edmonton and now Ottawa. They are all looking more and more alike 😢
When ever did they not look alike?
I think homelessness has increased equally everywhere.
Yes it has, definitely. Trying to just show it how it is and give my impartial take on things how they appear. I hope that’s come through in my commentary
If you ever get the chance, please do this style of video in Halifax. It would be nice to put a spotlight on some of the issues on the East coast so things can be improved! 👍
I've lived most of the last 43 years in Montreal.I've lived in London England,Paris France,Rio & Salvador Brazil,Buenos Aires Argentina,NYC,San Francisco,Vancouver BC and a couple of small towns and I always come back to Montreal.I LOVE IT!! It's always interesting and never boring!! The best city in Canada and considered one of the best in the world according to Time Out 2025!! You should have driven North on St Laurent from Old Montreal up to St Joseph and the back down on St Denis and along St Paul in Old Montreal and De La Commune are nice like old Europe! There are beautiful areas everywhere!! Where you said it was Place d'Armes was Chinatown.Place d'Armes is on Notre Dame in the old Montreal across from La Cathédrale Notre Dame.
Yes. But please come in the summer, for God's sake! You're showing the city at it's worst depressing time!
Vienna is the best city in the World.Canada Montreal is finished done.Congratulations for been 51 state of USA
@@montrealcanada7023 🤣🤣Austria soon to become another vassal country ( if not already ) of the USA.
But it keeps getting worse and worse.. I remember in 2019, I saw a few bums here and there but now they are everywhere
One of the best cities in the world? With crippling infrastructure, high taxes, 0 innovation and unfriendly to businesses, bad weather, unsocial people, and depressing to live in. I hope this is sarcasm
I left Montréal over 20 years ago no regrets...most homeless are in the metro underground as it is warm there during the winter.
All the homeless people are hidden during winter. Come back here when the weather is warm and go to Hoshelaga neighborhood. You will be shocked by the amounts of tents and homeless people. There are some tents now, actually. You need to drive along the river going south on the Notre Dame Est boulevard.
I live in Hochelaga and I counted nearly 100 tents biking from rue Dickson to downtown in the summer. Most of them were clean and orderly but 20% were total chaos. An eye sore . Obviously methheads hording stuff. Some spilling into people’s back yards which made them furious .
Go to areas that are inaccessible by foot such as the gay village. You will see a whole different side of the city with regards to what you are looking for. Some of the worst parts of the city are closed to car traffic.
Here's an idea. Instead paying shareholders dividends, we pay people fair salaries so that more people are willing to work? I mean, surely this radical concept that workers are more important than speculators, has worked in the past. Canada and the US were at their peak when top marginal tax rates were 70% or higher. There is NO sense to making millionaires, even richer.
Only to pay off their WW2 debts. Once they were paid off, there was no longer any need to keep it around.
In London , U.K, population almost 10 million , greater than 1 in 50 of the population homeless, around 500,000.
At the rate in Montreal, it would be around 20,000 - 25,000.
I think a problem across the western world.
Montreal sounds like a lefty paradise.
Well than turn it into a MACA paradise fast !!
Yes, it is a lefty paradise!
It absolutely is which is why we left in 2021
There's a reason why Justin's riding is there....
I'd leave if i could... Not easy when you don't have a car and that rent/buying skyrocketed in all the cities anyway 😢
As a Senior in Toronto, bad, bad, bad. Wish I could move but rents have doubled, hate where I live. Well I am lucky I am out of the cold. 10 international students in a 1 bedroom brought roaches to the building, I HAVE never experienced this is my life, it is horrible.
You went in the winter. The homeless go to subways and public places that are heated. There was a huge tent community but the city tore it down....
You wanna see vacant? You need to visit Halifax Nova Scotia, the whole downtown section is empty store fronts. Its really bad
1. My great grandfather came here just over 100yrs ago and was literal child labour, going to work dressed in a shirt made from a potato sack because they couldn't afford clothes. Most Canadians don't realize how bad poverty has been at times in Canada's history, because it was far away from their experience and their grandparents just shut up about it.
2. Whether anyone here cares to admit it or not, crime per capita was worse 30yrs ago in every "western" developed country. Again - if you didn't know it's cause it was far away from you, there was no internet and people just shut up about it.
3. What's happening now is we're teetering on the edge of another Great Depression like the 1930s. It's happening all over the "western" developed world. And it's been brewing for decades. Just like with the Great Recession of 2008, it's mostly centred around housing. We didn't fix the underlying problems with the housing market and the banking system and they've only gotten worse since. The pandemic and the massive influx of immigrants after has just exacerbated the problem, made it worse. THAT's why you're seeing it now.
The U.S.A. Is going to boom under Trump. Canada needs to get rid of Trudeau. Trump hates him and won’t give Canada a break until he is gone. Poilievre will have his hands full trying to fix the damage the liberals have done over the past 9 years.
@@thebigleone1066
Trudeau resigned.
I lived in both Toronto and Montreal, no matter how much Montreal can get bad I will never return to Toronto
Montreal is a bubble within a bubble, it does not reflect the pulse of the country. Language is number one, because of language less than 5% of new comers stay in Quebec within the first few years of living in Quebec. This plays a huge impact of the cost of living crisis that the rest of the country is facing.
Montreal has a HUGE immigrant population. The laws around housing kept the rental market artificially low for a long time. And the language laws negatively impacted the economy.
@@pqunit Yes, you are right if you go to Toronto learn English and if you come to Quebec at least make an effort to learn French.
@@xxisecolo9584 That’s not the topic
@@pqunit
But not the same demographics as Haitians and North Africans make up the majority of Montreal's immigrants.
In the City of Kendallville, Indiana, United States of America,it is unlawful to be Homeless or to hold up a sign asking for Help, punishable with fines and/or Incarceration. Note: Kendallville, Indiana is about 41 km north of Ft. Wayne, Indiana where it is not Illegal to be Homeless or hold up a sign asking for help.
In the winter, they will be inside - in the metro & malls etc
Man the fact they removed the statue of John A Macdonald is just sad. The woke ruins everything…. Great video tho bro.
He supported residential schools you want a statue of someone who was responsible for murdering innocent indigenous children?
Here in the US people have wanted to remove Christopher Columbus’ statue, because he had slaves or something. Apparently NOW having a statue of him is a problem.
Woke is learning history? Interesting
You didn't even know it was there
@@001sander2no they’re erasing it. Most of them don’t know just how important John A MacDonald was to Canada’s history and democracy that makes it the best country in the world
In Toronto there is 10,000 homeless. I did not ear 10,000 homeless in Montreal.
I'm a big lefty that has lived in Ottawa and Montreal for years each, right up to the pandemic. Ottawa does seem to be hit hard by the pandemic, but areas like sparks street have been dying for a long time (whereas the Rideau Centre has been massively renovated, for better or worse, it's quite big and clean).
One thing we can't forget is online shopping. Especially after the pandemic, people are so used to ordering everything online now. It's hard for brick and mortar shops to compete.
Montreal looks to be exactly as I left it around 2018. Amazing city with incredible culture, street fashion, and just an absolute sense of being alive. The metro (subway) feels relatively safe and is so fast to get anywhere in the city for cheap. If you were to go again, you might want to walk through some of the metro stations to check for homelessness, as they are giant, warm areas.
Oh, and for those considering Montreal, you can easily get by with little French, as all retail / shops speak English. However, jobs are much harder to get without French.
Fellow Montrealer here. I do think things have gotten a bit worse since the pandemic. Rents are getting very high now, homelessness is worse. But the sky isn't falling. And these problems have been building for a long time
Leftist policies are why I purchase most things online. Leftist policies are why drug use is through the roof. Not sure why anyone would be proud of voting for such policies.
You don't go in the winter time and say that you didn't see homelessness. Like others have said, you weren't going to the right places. You also cannot see much if you stay in a car, driving around, instead of walking around. Respectfully, I think you were there to visit a friend and you didn't put much effort in your video.
Vancouver is like the gates to hell
Vancouver is the Santa Monica and Bel Air of Canada. You only live there unless you're rich.
@@sebastienbolduc5654 ya I did that mistake and got caught living there during COVID, couldn't move out soon enough
The homeless are inside when the metro is open during winter, the heating room are going to close down now. The homeless camps get ransacked every chance they can. Berri Papineau Beaudry, Place D'armes, Atwater Lionel Groulx are all hubs.
Everywhere I go there are Indians or at the very least non-Whites working there. It's insane, it's like India froze over and I woke up there.
13:40 you won't see homeless people in the main city centers, unless they're like really bad parts of those City centers... Keep in mind that we have authority figures that control the homeless population, and make sure that the more touristy spots are clean of homelessness. Toronto is harder to do that with, but I'm pretty sure Montreal has that down. You also have homeless people that live in their cars that are pretty hard to see unless you look really close.
The visible “homelessness” is Gastown is due to substance abuse though, not because of high rents. Downtown Eastside has been a mess for 20 years.
East Hastings has been a mess since the 1960s at least.As a child my family drove through that area evey week and it was skid row.
40*
Question for Montrealers, why do so many of your buildings have stairs outside instead of a incased staircase that is shared? Everytime i visit i just think of how terrible it must be in the winter with them covered in snow and ice
You didn't see much homeless people because they hang out inside the metro stations, and in the hallways of various buildings including residential buildings if the front doors are not locked. Montreal is an underground city, we all try to flee the vivid cold the best we can!
If you took a car ride in the night when everything is closed you would have seen some stuff, also, going near Terminus Voyageur (Station Berri UQAM) and around metro St-Laurent and the nearby downtown metro stations would have been your best bet.
That said, it's not that bad, but it's not sweet either out here... Like, i went to the bank this week and 3 ppl were hanging out in their sleeping bags INSIDE the premises, just aside the money withdrawal machines! It was near De L'Eglise station (a well known hanging spot for natives and other marginals). I never saw this bank filled up as bad, sadly there are firsts for everything i guess.
On a side note, you mentioned the graffiti culture... There is a big difference between art and street gang tags. Those proliferates lately, sadly. There's nothing cultural about defacing property.
Edit: someone mentionned Notre dame street. Yeah, that spot near the port is filled up to the brim with tents, it's crazy. Nothing gets done by the city/gov to help despite all the taxes we pay, it's just so sad.
I’m back in the UK now , but christ the driving in Montreal. Cars in the U.K. have a vigorous annual inspection . In Montreal wrecked rust buckets everywhere, jumping red lights all the time , a real rarity in the U.K.
The best thing about Montreal is that it's walkable and bike-friendly.
lollllll
Griffin many Thanks for all your hard work and really appreciate it. Cheers
I can’t seem to feel anything for that missing statue, but it is sad to see how desolate the city looks. The Main Street looks reasonably alive. When we visited Toronto last June (2024) it was a little more alive than either Montreal or Ottawa. In general most Canadian cities seem to be taking on a recession-like appearance. The retail vacancies are just getting started, I think.
First of all, I am not surprised that the homeless are less in evidence during the very cold winter months in Montreal. They probably use the shelters more frequently during this season. Secondly, I wonder if there are places that are known for having homeless encampments. After all, a homelessness problem doesn't mean that you'll see homeless people everywhere. A little research done beforehand on well-known homeless encampments, assuming they exist, or at least on areas known for concentrations of homeless people, might have been more revealing. It would have certainly been more helpful than driving around the city randomly in the middle of January.
Interesting that New Brunswick is the only official bilingual province in the country. Wouldnt that also make New Brunswick French Canadian?
Griffin - Bravo for this important project!!
10,000 people out of a metro area of 4M is 1/4 of 1% homeless...but still too high and housing affordability a growing problem...your comments about decaying infrastructure is overblown...there has been significant renewal (new champlain bridge, new turcot interchange, new REM mass transit system)...the expressway and rail network are entirely functional...traffic congestion can be largely avoided through planning you trips to avoid rush hours if you're driving and using our comprehensive rapid mass transit if necessary. our mass transit is generally cheaper than other cities.
13:55 Because it's too cold outside. Enter the metro system and you'll see plenty of homeless people.
so many of your comments are inaccurate - I am a lifelong resident of Montreal.....I have never seen anything as degarded as vancouver downtown east-side...that makes the worst of montreal's problems seem like a picnic..Our climate is simply too cold for that kind of mass vagrancy, open drug use (disgusting) and such dire hopelessness...as for the potholes, they are an issue but have little impact on mobility...they are a minor nuisance to people that live here. it has to do with extreme frost thaw cycles, the fact that most of montreal is quite old and most importantly, we have other priorities besides having pristine asphalt (like culture, and inexpensive education)...retail vacancy is a small problem due to the transition to on-line buying and big-box stores in the suburbs.
Snow and slush everywhere, cars so dirty looks so bleak. I hate Canadian winters.
Dirty cars is a way of life here. 😅
You also gotta remember man, not everyone drives. Lots of people in montreal live car-free and get around by bike or transit, bc its practical and possible with the infrastructure. So, you did miss a lot of the city by staying in your car for the majority of the video.
Woke can also walk
Namely those who live near a Metro station or major bus route.
Would you still recommend I move to Gatineau Quebec from Ontario side? I was thinking of buying a duplex jointly with my son and sometimes they sell for $400k in lac de fee area. Where else can u buy a duplex this close to Ottawa for less than $600k
Not to nit pic, however at 14:41 what looks like a bus shelter has the entrance blocked with cardboard and debris. It sure looks like a mini homeless site.
Kido, get off your car and visit any of the metro stations in downtown.. there are some streets that are covered in graffiti for miles, but that’s not the worse of it.. most of Montreal uses the metro system and those have to deal with bum bullshit all day (most homeless are chill but some stupid junkies can be very loud and stupid).
You HAVE to visit Edmonton when visiting Alberta. Its situation is worse than Calgary's and WAY worse than Montréal's. On my first visit to downtown Edmonton (I lived one year there) I saw people shooting up drugs, shitting in public and even a couple of druggies having sex in a cranny on the busiest avenue (Jasper) at around 7am. I ultimately left after I was physically attacked in the face by a homeless zombie. That city is lost.
I moved to Montréal about 4 months ago after a visit last July and it's a totally different situation than Edmonton's. I'm not afraid of taking the public transit here, I still haven't seen piles of needles on the ground as I used to see there and still no people carrying knives in their pockets (not that rare of a sight downtown Edmonton). I feel safe and improving my French (I pretend I don't speak English) has been a fun challenge.
@@duantunes9871 Do you know the story of the boiling frogs? :)
Va sur la rue Ontario, tu vas en voir des itinérants
We've hit rock bottom and starting to climb out just about now. If you're negative and pessimistic, you're correct more often than not but you're unlikely to be part of the solution. Really sad to Canadian content makers playing it so cheap and appealing to fear porn. We're still blessed to have extremely prosperous lives by any standards. The real issue is the meaning crisis and lack community and culture.
Please visit East Hasting,Vancouver! 😢
12 millions, for nothing, no social housing…we need affordable appartements, studios for single and couple and 2 bedrooms for family…always money in the garbage 😢 when you see new building it’s condos, not affordable…
Every left city is like that
i'm in sitting in my apartment off St-Laurent Blvd in the Plateau neighbourhood ....allI an say ,you don't know the half of it !!!.Iv'e been here sine I was born in'78....left for 10 years in 2010 and came back to a completely different (and dead)city ...Biggest thing you forgot to mention every aspect of the city has always been run by Italian Mafia and the hells Agels also play a big roll
its cold, homeless people and their emcampment won't be out in the open but if you take notre dame street east, you will see alot. you just have t know where.
I saw peoples from Gatineau moving to Quebec a few weeks ago. no wonder why with a crazy government and homeless peoples like that!
Gatineau is in Quebec lmao
Gatineau is part of Quebec.
More then 15 years in MTL from northern Quebec. It's getting insane, mass immigration caused this. The lack of affordable housing ia the root cause. Trudeau caused this, he destroyed the canadian economy and on top of that he want to put a carbon tax. The appartement crisis is the worst, I got a 300$ increase to an appartement that hasn't have a change since the 1980's. I have been trying to get a bigger appartement and it's 1200 to 1500 for a 1 bedroom with no laundry plugs and for a 2 bedroom is 1500 to 1800$ abd that not the luxurious ones that the lowest end without insonorisation and very old buildings. That's pretty insane... been saving for the first time home buyer thing for 2 years now and should be able to move to a 300 to 400 000 condon or house this year after I get my tax return and on top of that my wife is pregnant so we need to move ASAP..
When you do toronto will you be doing all the boroughs?
0:40 doesn't the headline directly contradicts the title? It says 10,000 for the province and you put 10,000 for the city? lmao
edit: also, no, Montreal doesn't have a higher homelessness rate than BC. At least nothing I can find indicates that. In fact, statcan indicates BC has about 23% of the homeless population in Canada vs Quebec 12%. Despite BC being about a little over 1/2 of Quebec population... Where do you get your data, dude?
12:20 insane statement lmao. Ste Catherine isn't even close to 50% vacant. It's for sure not mega bustling, but lmao at your attempt at dramatization when you realize it's really not that bad so make up scenario.
To find the hobos, I think the cops just kinda still shuffle them into specific spots, specifically Berri and Chinatown. The metros, sadly, kinda become the hotspots for the homeless population
i grew up in the GTA and Gatineau and Montreal looks so like sad like its missing something
Montreal is far from sad. It’s got it going on.
You needed to go to the metro stations, inside the underground… homeless are there in the winter while they’re open.
You live in Ottawa. A man froze on OTTAWA streets just last week.
Traffic looks light compared to Toronto
go to the metro stations and you’ll see lots of homeless
Bonaventure, Place D'Armes, Berri-UQAM, Atwater, McGill, etc.
No future for Canada we love Donald Trump
I laugh at you people that worship politicians. Sheep. 😆
Dream
@@001bscdon’t worry the liberals will save us !
What is stopping your aspirations ? You can move to the United States ! 🎉
@Reddfrogg no.problem you stay in Toronto and enjoy trudeaus mess
The city dismantled most of the encampments December 1.
In Toronto it's easy, just go south of Bloor.
I grew up in Toronto for most of my life. Since I moved from there over 8 years ago, homelessness has gone from bad to worse.
The cost of housing over the last 10 years has skyrocketed not only in Toronto but the entire GTA. ( Greater Toronto Area )
Lmk next time you’re in Mtl Griff ! Gotta catch up
how about griffin town?
Is reading while driving legal? Does police care about filiming yourself diring while reading?
Thanks for the information you just gain a subscriber ❤🎉
Canada was the richest nationin 70s and cheap
bruv, its winter. and day time. They are mostly in the metros and malls and tim hortons/mcdonalds at this time.
I'm watching this from koh Samui Thailand and miss Montreal. I've lived in the city, on and off since 1980 and love many things about it. Except for the winter.
I'll be back in April for the summer.
How do you want to see homelesspeople when it is freezing outside ? You need to enter in metro stations.
Like Bonaventure, McGill, Atwater, Place D'Armes, Berri, etc.
Do not forget to check out Edmonton, the capital of Alberta.
Just watched a video on MAID Canada has fallen. Massive drug problem massive homeless problem.
Trudeau happened to Canada
Justin just finishing what his father Pierre started.
Prince George, British Columbia, is home to a legal encampment known as Moccasin Flats. The encampment has garnered significant attention due to a ruling by a judge that permitted individuals to legally camp there. While the encampment has experienced a decline over the past year, it remains an important initiative that could set a precedent across Canada if the community were to provide greater support.
1.45 for $1USD right the is the exchange rate. never saw that since i was born in 50 years. I think the economy will collapse.
latest city statistics 2024 Montreal homelessness is around 5 100, not 10 000
So you drive through a town and all of a sudden you’re an expert? Propaganda video. Who paid you for this sell out Steve.
Oh yeah. Try living there.
That's Montreal, the capital of potholes and the orange construction cones!
They need thermal tents
When will you come to saskatoon. Just subscribe your chennel do you think saskatoon is better than montreal more affordable and work vice ?
TH-cam is evolving. You can get stock market advice and learn about the homelessness crisis in Canada all in one video.
I hate this place. Really.
Probably don't see them too much in the winter.
I think Vancouver's homeless is about a million.
Montreal stupid dumb roads pffff a nightmare
Lol.. Canabis is in crisis for some.. but not most.
I am sure there is at least one boomer homeowner waking up saying:
".. i wonder what the poor people are doing today?"