Downtown Montreal soup kitchen to move after disagreement with church: sources

Homeless centre moves after dispute, sources say Sources tell CTV News Saint-Michael’s Mission will be moving after a dispute with the church where the mission has been for about 50 years

Saint-Michael’s Mission, a downtown Montreal day centre for the homeless, will move to a new location in the new year due to a disagreement with the church where the centre is located, sources tell CTV News.

After about 50 years operating out of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, the mission is expected to close its doors on Friday – a sign posted on its familiar red door reads that it will be moving soon.

Sources told CTV that the centre, which also has a soup kitchen, wanted a long-term guarantee from the church that it would be able to stay at its current location in its basement.

But the church didn’t want to provide that guarantee, citing uncertain times and its own future development. The back-and-fourth took place months ago, and the mission had since started looking for a new venue, sources say. Saint-Michael’s Mission signed a new lease for Dec. 23 and will move into their new location near Windsor station, north of Griffintown, but there are concerns that the 200 people they serve each day will not follow them.

The mission was unable to provide comment to CTV Sunday evening.

“They needed to find a place that was secure for the future, and we just are no longer in a position to give guarantees for a number years ahead of time,” said Saint-John rector Father Keith Schmidt.

“The position of churches these days in Montreal is not as healthy as they can be. Many of us don't know what the long-term is going to be for us, and we're one of those churches in that position,” he continued.

“They wanted security of tenure, and we didn't feel like we could make promises we couldn't keep.”