Baby found in Montreal homeless encampment puts housing crisis on campaign spotlight

MONTREAL — The discovery of a one-year-old child at a homeless encampment in Montreal has put the city’s worsening housing crisis in the spotlight of Quebec’s provincial election campaign.

Montreal police said an investigation is underway after officers located a woman and the child at an encampment on Notre-Dame Street in the city’s east end.

The discovery has prompted Quebec’s political leaders to weigh in on how to address homelessness, with opposition leaders criticizing the government’s response and Coalition Avenir Québec Leader Christine Fréchette calling for governments and other partners to work together.

Montreal police said they received a call about the woman and child on Sept. 11 in the borough of Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

Police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant said officers located them after conducting a search and noticed what they described as concerning elements.

Brabant said police were collaborating with Quebec’s youth protection agency on the investigation. He said the infant’s health and safety were not at risk.

Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada called the situation “heartbreaking” and a “wake-up call” in a social media post Wednesday night.

She said Montreal could no longer wait for the Quebec government to address what she described as a provincewide problem and said the city would take action at the Notre-Dame site.

Fréchette said she had spoken with the Montreal mayor and wanted the province and city to work together.

“It breaks my heart. I’m a mother first and foremost, and I can’t believe it,” Fréchette told reporters in Sainte-Julie, in the Montérégie region, east of Montreal.

She said governments, municipalities, the private sector and community organizations all have a role to play in addressing homelessness, adding her government is developing a provincewide plan.

Fréchette also said authorities need a clearer picture of who is living in encampments and whether other children are among them.

“Those children really have to be taken out of that environment,” she said, adding, “It’s not an environment for children at all.”

Québec solidaire Leader Ruba Ghazal said she was “extremely shocked” by the discovery.

“To think that this child ended up in an encampment with a family living in an unimaginably vulnerable situation, just talking about it gives me chills,” Ghazal told reporters in Sherbrooke.

“We’re in 2026, in a wealthy Quebec, and for things to have reached this point is completely unacceptable and shocking.”

Ghazal said tackling homelessness requires investment in housing and community organizations.

She also criticized the spending plan in Parti Québécois Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s platform, saying she found “zero dollars in infrastructure investment for housing” in the plan.

But St-Pierre Plamondon, who represents the riding where the Notre-Dame encampment is located, said homelessness would be his “social priority” if his party forms government.

The PQ leader said the situation was “embarrassing” for a wealthy society and accused the CAQ government of lacking political will on homelessness and other social issues.

“We shouldn’t accept this,” St-Pierre Plamondon told reporters in Longueuil, south of Montreal “It’s a loss of control by the CAQ on this issue over the past few years, and it’s very sad.”

Liberal Leader Charles Milliard also said he was concerned about the situation but stopped short of calling for the encampment to be dismantled.

Speaking in Lac-Mégantic, Milliard called on elected officials to intervene and said the City of Montreal has as important a role to play as the provincial government.

Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime also called it “totally unacceptable” for a child to be living in an encampment “in a society like ours.”

“Everyone is saddened. We have to have compassion for the people who live there and we have to find solutions, but an encampment is not a solution, it’s not alternative housing,” Duhaime told reporters in Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud, in Quebec’s Chaudière-Appalaches region.

He said governments should work to eliminate homeless encampments across the province as quickly as possible.

In a statement, Montreal’s official Opposition, Projet Montréal, called on the mayor to use 30 modular housing units it says are currently sitting unused and give priority to homeless parents and pregnant women.

Opposition Leader Ericka Alneus said the city acquired 90 modular units under the previous Projet Montréal administration, 30 of which have yet to be put into use.

“Finding a baby in an encampment is deeply upsetting. All of Quebec is shaken,” Alneus wrote.

“The modular units aren’t a perfect solution and will never replace real housing,” Alneus wrote, adding they could provide families with quicker access to services and help finding permanent housing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2026.

— with files from Sébastien Auger in Montreal

The Canadian Press