Canadian Red Cross volunteers Caroline Mathurin and Jean‑Yves Joannette in action at Montreal’s Hôtel‑Dieu warming centre, February 2026.
Photo: Sara Selma Maref / Canadian Red Cross
While spring is settling in and temperatures are becoming milder, people experiencing homelessness had to endure extreme cold throughout the winter. When faced with the looming humanitarian emergency in Montreal, the city called on the Canadian Red Cross to operate two night-time warming centres in the boroughs of Ville Saint‑Laurent and Plateau-Mont‑Royal.
The Red Cross operation, which wrapped up on March 31, 2026, wouldn’t have been possible without the community partners who enhanced and complemented the organization’s established expertise in humanitarian emergency response.
Collaboration with organizations such as l’Amour en Action, the Old Brewery Mission, Refuge Mitshuap (“house” in Innu‑aimun), and many others enabled our teams of responders to align their practices and procedures with those of the community sector. This ensured greater predictability for people accessing the warming centre’s services, in addition to fostering safe and healthy environments.
For Isabel Gauthier, director of community relations, the approach was grounded in active listening, humility, and ongoing improvement. “Their experience and expertise are highly developed and firmly established. […] Their guidance as we entered this field significantly accelerated and strengthened our operational learning curve and integration.”
Ms. Gauthier went on to explain that this collaborative approach is a defining feature of the local ecosystem supporting those who are experiencing homelessness. The network that has taken shape among committees tasked with addressing homelessness, local coordination tables, as well as institutional and community partners has created a space where efforts can be aligned and local challenges openly shared.
Profiles of Key Partners
L’Amour en Action
In Montréal‑Nord, l’Amour en Action operates both as a warming centre and a shelter. The organization also provides meals, a shuttle service, support services, and psychosocial support.
The collaboration between the Canadian Red Cross and l’Amour en Action began in November 2025 with a simple yet profoundly humane gesture, when an Amour en Action driver offered dry clothing to an individual arriving by shuttle at the Red Cross-operated warming centre. Following this meaningful initiative, the Canadian Red Cross Community Relations team drew on the support and guidance of l’Amour en Action’s Director of Operations, Françoise Bouchard:
The knowledge shared by l’Amour en Action enabled the Red Cross to enhance its practices while ensuring that the principles of dignity and humanity remain at the heart of the warming centres.“L’Amour en Action believes that the strategies, expertise, and practical knowledge gained through years of work to address homelessness should be shared with our colleagues in other organizations who stand alongside us in supporting some of the most vulnerable members of modern society.” — Françoise Bouchard, director of operations
Refuge Mitshuap (“house” in Innu‑aimun)
Refuge Mitshuap was created during the COVID-19 pandemic, in memory of Raphaël “Napa” André, an Innu man who died of hypothermia in the Milton‑Park area in January 2021.
Today, this night-time emergency shelter, designed “by and for Indigenous people experiencing homelessness,”—though it is open to everyone—also provides hot meals, clothing, basic first‑aid items, and a caring, attentive presence.
In November 2025, the organization’s executive director, Alexandra Ambroise, invited the Canadian Red Cross Community Relations team to observe the shelter’s operations.
Beyond the techniques used to run the shelter, the message was clear: Welcome each person with the utmost respect, recognize everyone’s inherent dignity, and understand the historical, current, and cultural realities that shape their experience.
Old Brewery Mission
The Old Brewery Mission also played a pivotal role when the Red Cross began its homelessness response last November. The Mission supports people in Montreal who are at risk of homelessness or experiencing it by helping them move toward long‑term reintegration and stable housing.
It is also behind the rapid rehousing initiative known as PARR, an essential tool that tracks available spaces across Montreal’s emergency shelters, day centres, and warming centres.
Red Cross Emergency Response teams took part in training sessions and immersion sessions, enjoyed opportunities for knowledge sharing and received prompt answers to operational questions. The availability and transparency of the Old Brewery Mission’s representatives helped establish a foundation of trust that is essential to the success of our work under this new mandate.
