and buildings to business ventures all the time in order to encourage so-called economic investment and development. The squat action should be considered a strategy, a form of direct action and civil disobedience. Many Montréalers acknowledge the squat action as a logical response to a public housing problem. The situation has now ended for the squatters. On October 3, the police and fire forces arrived at the gate outside the Rachel Squat. The original city request to update the building to fire codes had never been met. While the squatters were busy inside voting whether to open the door, the authorities let themselves in. At least ten arrests were made, one squatter was hospitalized, and the rest were chased from the building. What was a unique experiment in Montréal had become a complete letdown. Public opinion had changed, favouring the squat shutdown; few Montréalers wanted their tax money being spent on a group of squatters. It means that many of these squatters have to return to a precarious situation on the streets. What had been a safe home for two months was now gone, and to replace that security for each squatter will be very difficult. By no means has the housing crisis in Montréal been resolved. From the position of a homeless or unemployed person who does not want to be on the street, this is a harsh reality. There are many abandoned buildings that could serve as beautiful houses; the commercial housing system is entirely out of reach; and a wonderful housing opportunity has been ripped out from under them. Why not allow the squatters a separate form of housing where their principles can be used? The Rachel Squat, like other squats, precipi- tates entirely unique urban conditions. A communal form of decision making is encouraged, and a richculture can develop from close inter- relationships. Further, the lack of systematized economy in a squat allows for a unique form of micro-economy. Production of goods and services develops closer to a barter system, and in many cases, squat communities can develop a sustainable internal economy over time. Squatting can be used, as it was in Montréal, for political activism. But it can also be used to protest the tearing down of buildings, to reclaim buildings in war zones, or to simply save oneself from dying in the street. It is still one of the most flexible and vital forms of habitation the world over, unfortunately not often recognized by governments.
So here we are, 500 protesters all thinking that housing is a right, and if our government will not help, we will help ourselves.After meeting in St-Louis Square, we march through downtown towards an unannounced abandoned building. Stopping the march at a vast parking lot, a beautiful three-story heritage mansion stands tall in the middle, totally boarded up.We charge straight for it, kicking in the boarded doors while others watch the riot police.A team of about 40 squatters unboard the windows, build steps into the upper floors, and tag the building with symbols and protest slogans. Un squat pour nous, un squat pour tous. The standoff begins. It was a poetic sight.A bare-chested, black masked guard keeps watch from the top of the squat.A black flag blows on the roof in the hot summer heat while riot police talked amongst themselves down the street. The riot police never attack, so we begin to celebrate the establishment of the Overdale Squat--at the corner of Overdale and Lucien L’Allier streets. Public support rises quickly as the squat action is covered in all the newspapers and on the television. Mayor Pierre Bourque has to react calmly in the context of the current mayoral race. Immediately the 150 squatters receive an eviction notice and prepare for a police raid. It never happens. Instead they enter negotiations with mayor Bourque to find a new building. In the meantime, the squatters refuse to leave the building; and public support means that the mayor cannot force them out. Six days of occupation follow and finally the city offers the squatters an abandoned youth corrections building on Rachel Street. It is four-stories and large enough to house a library, communal kitchens, and all the squatters in separate rooms. But the squatters demand a number of other things including amnesty from criminal charges, the assumption of all costs by the City, as well as guaranteed self-management. The city agrees, and the experiment starts. All bills are to be paid by the government for a trial period of a few months, but the squatters must update the building to suit fire codes. At this point that public opinion begins to mutter:“Why should we pay for their house?” Possibly the city should only have given them the building and not offered to pay all the bills. This likely would have kept the public in support of the squatters. City officials give away or sell off property
The new building, the Rachel Squat, on the first day of take over. This was legally given by the city, later to be taken away.
Darrel Ronald is completing a Bachelors of Environmental Design in the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Planning at the University of Manitoba.
ON SITE review 6: BEAUTY
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