MONTREAL — Equipped with a case of naloxone and a backpack of warm socks, two members of Montreal’s social intervention team peer around the side of a dumpster behind a downtown McDonald’s, looking to see if someone needs their help.
Wolf and Rosalie — who can only be identified by their first names at the insistence of their employer due to the sensitive nature of their work — are members of the city’s mobile mediation and social intervention team, or EMMIS. The team was created in 2021 to respond to situations involving vulnerable clientele such as those who are homeless, intoxicated or in crisis in public areas, often as an alternative to calling police.
On this day, there is nobody behind the dumpster, meaning they won’t need to use the naloxone they carry to reverse an opioid overdose. Before moving on, the pair make a quick visual scan of the discarded syringes littering the ground, making sure there are no needles. “That was a real shock to me, because this man wanted it,” he said. “We work with such a difficult clientele, that when you get the chance to find someone who wants right away, you have to seize that opportunity.”
As the number of 911 calls that deal with mental health and homelessness has risen, Montreal has increasingly turned to so-called mixed squads — which pair police with health or social workers — or to EMMIS as a way of addressing criticism that the police response is too harsh. Ted Rutland, the professor who co-wrote the report, said EMMIS has a"muddy" mandate that claims to both respond to citizen complaints and help the homeless — which are often fundamentally at odds.
Desjardins, for his part, says he believes there's"always room for more people on the ground," but believes the report highlights the need for better collaboration between groups.
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