Montreal - July 21, 2020
The neighbourhood police station (PDQ) 21 of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), the CIUSSS of Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal and the Société de développement social (SDS) are deploying the Équipe multidisciplinaire de concertation communautaire (E=MC2) [Multidisciplinary Community Concertation Team] at Les Jardins Gamelin until September 28, 2020.
This pilot test is made possible thanks to the financial contribution of Info-Crime Montréal as well as to the collaboration of the Ville-Marie borough and the Partenariat du Quartier des spectacles, which host E=MC2 on the Les Jardins Gamelin site.
E=MC2: a new avenue
The partners of the Équipe multidisciplinaire de concertation communautaire are set up at Les Jardins Gamelin in three separate containers, which have been converted into service counters (modules). They offer services adapted to the needs of vulnerable people, wherever they are, in their living environment, seven days a week.
Prevention, basic and referral medical services, psychosocial support, mediation and crisis management: the partners of E=MC2 intend to facilitate the access of these people to the health, social and community services network, to guide and accompany them to assistance resources. Disaffiliated from institutions, vulnerable people in the sector will thus be able to benefit from services that they will not necessarily seek themselves.
E=MC2: complementary and concerted action
Police intervention alone cannot provide an appropriate response to the complex situation of people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Although several organizations already work in the sector with people in precarious situations, the deployment of E=MC2 aims to promote the complementarity of police service interventions with those of partners in the health, social services and community environment as well as ensuring a physical presence of services at Les Jardins Gamelin. In this context, collaborations are essential in order to carry out concerted action within the expertises, mandates and limits of each.
On the initiative of PDQ 21, the Équipe multidisciplinaire de concertation communautaire is composed of patrollers, community relations officers and an SPVM community consultation officer, social workers who can be paired with CIUSSS nurses or educators and SDS social mediators who already work with the occupants of Les Jardins Gamelin. Other organizations will also join E=MC2 on a sporadic or regular basis such as Urgences-santé and the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, in particular.
E=MC2: a shared responsibility
For the SPVM, E=MC2 demonstrates its ability to adapt its interventions to the social realities of vulnerable people by focusing on a shared responsibility with its partners when it comes to public safety issues. In addition, this initiative draws on expertise developed over the years, in collaboration with numerous partners, within the ÉMRII (Équipe mobile de référence et d'intervention en itinérance) [mobile referral and intervention team for the homeless] and the ÉSUP (Équipe de soutien aux urgences psychosociales) [psychosocial emergency support team].
