At the fourth edition of the Defund La Police Festival, the opening panel Building Compassion: Perspectives from Folks with Front-line and Lived Experiences gathered around 60 attendees to discuss housing precarity in Montréal. Speakers shared firsthand experiences of displacement, criminalization, and stigma, emphasizing that police involvement often worsens harm in encampments and shelters. They called for community-based alternatives rooted in care and dignity, urging a shift in public discourse to recognize unhoused people’s humanity and challenge policies that criminalize poverty.
