Salvation Army

Former Salvation Army shelter to be multi-service centre

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The former Salvation Army building in Old Quebec that for nearly 60 years provided shelter for homeless men and women is being upgraded as an “innovative” service centre for the same clientele.

Announced earlier in the year, the projected “multi- service centre for the most vulnerable population” is the work of the CIUSSS (Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux) for the Capitale-Nationale region.

The CIUSSS acquired the building at 14 Côte du Palais in 2020, and after several delays, work began a few weeks ago to gut the building and transform it into a modern facility providing a range of in-house services.

Those services include a street drop-in centre, a laundry room, addiction services, a homelessness liaison team, a withdrawal management unit with accommodations, and 30 beds supervised by CIUSSS staff.

At the time of the announcement of the project go-ahead in January, Marie-Josée Collard of the mental health and addiction programs department of the CIUSSS, said, “The idea is really to attract this clientele to offer them services, because they don’t want to go to hospitals. So, by being more welcoming, more adapted to them, we hope that our workers will be able to reach out to them and help them get through it.”

A CIUSSS spokesperson declined a request for an interview on the project, saying, “Work is continuing and we should be able to provide more information on the completion of the project by the end of autumn.”

Some services at the facility will be offered in partnership with existing community organizations, such as La Maison de Job, which will collaborate on the drop-in centre’s operations.

When the Salvation Army decided to close its Old Quebec shelter five years ago, some of its homeless housing services were transferred to the nearby Maison Mère-Mallet facility.

According to information from the CIUSSS, the building’s four floors will be divided into different functions. The second floor will house a detoxification unit with 18 residential beds, as well as a living area with a small kitchen, a dining room and a lounge.

The third floor will have 12 beds for short stays and will include a large room where conferences, group therapy sessions and meetings can be held.

The presence of a centre for homeless people and people with substance abuse issues in a prime location in Old Quebec, adjacent to a luxury hotel, has raised some concerns.

Daniel Riverain, an administrator of the Vieux-Québec neighbourhood council, said in an earlier report in Le Soleil, “I’m delighted to see that there is an intensification of homelessness services in our neighbourhood; it was becoming imperative.”

But, he said, “I’m worried about the sidewalk in front of this establishment; there are many tourists who pass by with their suitcases,” suggesting a smoking area should be created away from crowds in the street.

Frédéric Keck, assistant director for homelessness and partnerships at the CIUSSS, responded in the same report, saying the Salvation Army, at the time, housed about a hundred residents “and we, at full capacity, will have 30 residents.”

The neighbourhood council did not reply to a request for an interview.

The building, designed by F.A. Walker and built of cut stone, was, according to the city’s architecture directory, one of the first “to incorporate architecture compatible with the historic character of the site” under new rules put in place by heritage officials.

A plaque on the structure says: “This plaque commemorates the dedication to the glory of God of this building by Commissioner W. Booth, LLD. May 14, 1959.”

Booth was Wycliffe Booth, grandson of Salvation Army founder William Booth, and no stranger to Canada. A Salvation Army biography notes that “as a young officer, Commissioner Booth accompanied his father Bramwell Booth during one of his memorable visits to Canada.”