‘They didn’t give you meals’: Quebec seniors say they were forced out of their homes

Dozens of people gathered in front of Manoir Louisiane in Montreal on Thursday to express their outrage over the alleged mistreatment of the building's former residents.

Dozens of people gathered outside Manoir Louisiane in Montreal on Thursday to express their outrage over the alleged mistreatment of residents they claim were pushed out of their homes over the past few months.

“This was a space for living for 70 elderly residents in our neighbourhood and, because of harassment and abusive tactics, it’s now completely empty,” Valerie Campanelli, a coordinator with La Table de quartier d’Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, told Global News.

Housing advocates said that now-former residents were told in October that services would soon be cut and that over the ensuing weeks a high-pressure campaign was launched to push them out the door.

Eighty-one-year-old Pierrette Cyr, who used to call the senior’s residence home, said those tactics included letting people go hungry.

“They didn’t give you meals. They don’t do nothing for your security,” she said.

Campanelli, said other tactics included “constant door knocking, constant pushing. It was not good for them.”

In addition, Quebec’s workplace safety board has received multiple complaints about bed bugs at Manoir Louisiane as well.

The housing advocates said they had tried to access the senior’s residence but would be turned away by police.