Quebec family with three kids evicted amid cold snap

Patrick Peterson's family scrambling to pack and ready to leave before bailiffs show up. (Patrick Peterson)

A Quebec family could find themselves homeless after being evicted from their home in Rawdon, Que., over rent non-payment.

Patrick Peterson and his partner Rachel Rajotte received an eviction notice on Jan. 20, saying they, their three children and their dog had to be out of the unit by 7 a.m. on Jan. 28.

According to documents from the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL), the tenants admitted to being behind on payments and having missed three months’ rent.

Originally from Laval, the family had moved into the recently built condo in the summer because the rent was more affordable than in the city at $1,600 per month.

Peterson says he’d hoped to work out a solution with the landlord.

Judge Manon Talbot approved the eviction on Jan. 5, giving the family 11 days to leave their dwelling and ordering them to pay the landlord $4,200.

But Peterson told CTV News he thought tenants could not be evicted in the winter and that his building manager told Rajotte they would not throw a family into the street in the cold.

“You shouldn’t be able to put kids out in the street in the middle of wintertime. That’s one thing that when it comes to kids, you got to have a bit of a heart,” he says, adding that Quebec has had a cold snap in recent days.

“I understand people need to have their money and they have to pay the rent and their mortgages, that I understand 100 per cent, but by kicking somebody out of the place — that’s guaranteeing that there’s no money coming in.”

‘Trying to get back on our feet’

Peterson says he and his partner were told they could pay half their debt right away and would have until March to pay the rest. Had that been the case, he says he is confident the situation would have been resolved, as he was waiting for funding that was expected to come in February.

“I think it would have been fine,” he says. “When I got the bailiffs at the door with the paper saying that they’re coming in four days to kick us out, we kind of flipped out.”

Peterson adds he and his partner missed a rent payment in September because they needed to buy school supplies for their children – aged six, 15 and 16 – and couldn’t make ends meet.

He says he has been receiving disability payments after a car accident and three herniated disks, while his partner had her hours cut at her service job.

“Things were starting to look up. They were going good. We dropped $12,000 into the place, bought new furniture, paid two months’ rent in advance. I mean, we’re trying to get back on our feet here,” says Peterson.

When they paid rent for October, the landlord counted it as the September payment. He says the same happened in November, and when December rolled around, it was “a choice between rent, food and Christmas presents for the kids.”

“I didn’t buy one gift for my kids,” he laments, adding that he feels terrible about the situation. “We can’t afford to do anything. It’s so expensive, the cost of living, it’s ridiculous.”

“And me, I’m the man of the house. How do you think I feel? I mean, I can’t provide for my family,” he says.

CTV News reached out to the landlord for comment, but did not hear back at time of publication.

Few days’ notice

The couple says the family is staying in a cramped three-bedroom with Peterson’s brother and his family through the weekend, but can’t stay long-term. They had nowhere to put their furniture.

They fear losing everything, including their kids to child protection services.

Margaret van Nooten of Project Genesis says the landlord’s eviction was done by the book, but adds she was surprised that the judge only gave the family 11 days to leave their home, given that they have children, a house full of furniture and experienced hardship.

By the time the bailiff comes around, the notice is closer to five days, she adds.

“The law is brutal,” she says. “It’s very unfortunate in this case … The judge had the discretion to grant 10 days or 30 days. That’s a huge difference, to have a month at least, to sort of figure out where you’re going to go, what you’ll do.”

Many struggling to pay rent

Peterson is far from alone — a report published Monday by Vivre en Ville and Leger shows that one in five Quebecers struggled to pay their rent in 2025.

With rents increasing every year, inflation and the high cost of living, more families are struggling to make ends meet. Eight per cent of those who participated in the Leger survey experienced a period of homelessness.

“There’s so many people we see where their rent absorbs almost all of their income,” says van Nooten. “The reasonable dwellings, a lot of them are disappearing from the market. So a family like this, where are they going to move?”

Peterson says he’s been in touch with authorities to try and find an emergency spot in subsidized housing (HLM) to keep his family together and off the streets until they can move into a house come July.

Watching the bailiffs emptying his apartment Wednesday morning, throwing his furniture away, he couldn’t help but feel heartbroken. His partner has been crying for days, he adds.

“But it is what it is,” he says. “I’m trying to stay positive.”