A beautiful day in the neighbourhood
Citizens’ Committee cleans up in Montreal
BY Dominique Jarry-Shore
Montreal’s the Village des Tanneries is a place where the crosswalk guard knows every child’s name, where you can shop at Mr. and Mrs. Lee’s dépanneur on credit at the end of the month, and where people congregate on their balconies in summertime—à la Balconville. It’s also a place that has a recent past filled with vandalism, poverty and civic neglect.
But thanks to a group of dedicated residents known as the Citizens’ Committee of the Village des Tanneries, the quality of life in the neighbourhood is improving. Impressed by their community outlook, I joined the CCVT three years ago.
Jody Negley, the de facto leader of the CCVT, said the group began “rather organically” in 2000, after she noticed some local children taking an interest in her garden when she moved to the area seven years ago.“Kids were literally playing in garbage. I mean, the wind would blow and garbage would roll down the street and kids would be in their front yards, and people didn’t really seem to care that much,” she says. Eventually, Negley and her followers began cleaning up alleyways and the sidewalks.
Over the years the CCVT has grown roots in the community, and now has about 60 members and plenty of projects, ranging from community gardens (on raised garden beds due to contamination of heavy metals in the soil) to art installations on reappropriated government land, to summer activities for kids. Funding for these initiatives comes from a combination of government grants, private foundations and gifts in kind from local merchants. The CCVT has also established a presence at city council meetings, where residents fight for their neighbourhood.
That neighbourhood, located in southwest Montreal, gets its name from the tanneries that operated in this formerly industrial area of St. Henri in the early 1800s. A raised highway to the north and train tracks to the south create an enclave where 55 percent of residents live below the poverty line and 39 percent of 15-to-24-year-olds aren’t in school.
“My thought had been that the more neglected an area is, the more it will attract negative attention and neglect on the behalf of the citizens,” says Negley, “but if that little bit of time and energy were spent upgrading the infrastructure, then people would take more pride in their area.”
Her approach appears to be working. Constable Jean-Guy Gagnon, who has worked closely with the CCVT in the past, estimates delinquent acts such as graffiti, vandalism and noise disturbances have decreased by 70 percent as a direct result of the group’s work. He believes that it is making a difference and now vaunts the accomplishments of the CCVT in other neighbourhoods experiencing similar problems. This winter, the group will plan its 2008 community gardens and work on an art project to draw attention to the Ministry of Transport’s plan to expropriate local homes to rebuild a highway interchange. It may also join forces with two other community organizations to build more garden beds to help give access to affordable, fresh produce to people in the community.
Cathy Anglade, coordinator of the local youth centre, thinks the work of the CCVT is making a difference to the area’s teenagers. “I tip my hat to the citizens’ committee,” she says. “With very little means it is able to do so many things; they have an enormous amount of willpower.”
