Unhoused man’s death a ‘turning point’ and wake-up call, Parc-Ex residents say
Gaurav Sharma’s voice broke with emotion as he recalled the last moments of Manjeet Singh’s life.
An unhoused migrant and father of two, Singh, 42, died in a Parc-Extension park in mid-January. He was found alone in the cold, Sharma said, near a closed municipal chalet where he usually sought warmth.
“He had a lot of dreams. His family had a lot of dreams … and he died because he could not afford expensive rent,” said Sharma, an organizer with the Immigrant Workers Centre. “Who is responsible for his death? The system was responsible.”
Sharma was among those who gathered outside the Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough offices Tuesday evening to honour Singh’s memory. They taped his photo to the building’s columns and spoke of wanting his death to serve as a “turning point” and wake-up call.
Community groups say Singh was one of three unhoused people to die in Parc-Extension this winter.
While the details of his death are still being confirmed, they say it highlights the lack of services in the neighbourhood : There is no local homeless shelter and no warming centres were open the night Singh died.
“He went to the park thinking the chalet could be open, but found it closed and had nowhere else to go,” said Rose Ndjel, of the Table du Quartier de Parc-Extension.
Ndjel said there has always been hidden homelessness in the neighbourhood, but the crisis has worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic and services haven’t kept pace.
“There is no space in Parc-Extension where homeless people know they can go,” she said. “And we need one … because we have a lot of residents from South Asia who don’t speak French or English and aren’t comfortable going elsewhere.”
According to those who knew him, Singh arrived in Montreal seeking asylum in 2018. He struggled to find work in recent years and had been sharing a small apartment with several others before a falling-out left him on the street.
Tenant rights advocates stressed Singh’s situation was not an isolated case and said his death occurred against a broader backdrop of gentrification squeezing low-income tenants into untenable living situations.
Amy Darwish, co-ordinator of the Comité d’action de Parc-Extension, said her organization saw a 30-per-cent jump in the number of tenants requesting support last year alone.
While the group has long helped people push back against negligent landlords, Darwish said there has been a shift in recent years toward assisting people facing abusive rent hikes or disguised evictions.
“The rents have gone through the roof,” Darwish said. “People are no longer even tenants anymore; they’re occupants. They rent a room. They’re not on the lease. They have no protections.”
Darwish said that increased pressure on tenants , combined with the lack of homeless resources in the neighbourhood, created a “perfect storm of circumstances” that led to someone dying.
“This can never happen again,” she said. “We need resources for the neighbourhood that are actually adapted to the needs and the realities of the people (living here).”
He had a lot of dreams. His family had a lot of dreams … and he died because he could not afford expensive rent
Contacted for this report, a borough spokesperson said that while there are no shelters in Parc-Extension, there is one in Villeray and another in Montreal North, which offers a shuttle service from the Parc métro station.
A warming centre is also open in Ahuntsic, the borough said, though it’s a roughly 50-minute walk from where Singh died.
The borough did not specify why the chalet Singh regularly sought warmth in was closed, but noted it is not suitable to operate as a warming centre.
“The death of Manjeet Singh is a sad reminder of the need to continue our collective efforts,” the spokesperson wrote.
Last week, the Quebec coroner’s office announced it will hold a public inquiry into the deaths of five other unhoused Montrealers between September and March.
The office confirmed this week that a coroner is also investigating the circumstances around Singh’s death.
Sharma mentioned that Singh had hoped to eventually reunite with his wife and two young children, who are still in India. A modest funeral was held last week and groups are raising funds for the family.
Like many others in the community, he added, Singh’s family is struggling to understand how his death was allowed to happen.
“It was preventable,” he said.
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