The Reality of Montreal: Why Has Safety Become the New Scarcity?
By Yunkai Xu
Games Editor
As the thrilling ambiance of Halloween descended all over downtown Montreal accompanied by pre-Thanksgiving celebrations, two shocking events occurred during the Thanksgiving weekend, causing disturbances in the city.
First, on October 12 at 11:20 p.m., an altercation between two individuals at Guy-Concordia metro station escalated quickly into a stabbing event resulting in the death of a 37-year-old man. The metro station was closed overnight, and the following morning, police patrols, relevant investigators, and the press surrounded the area.
Later, in the afternoon of October 13th, an “unauthorized person” is found on the track of the Orange line metro between Cote-Vertu and Lionel-Groulx, causing significant paralysis of this metro line.
Unfortunately, I was present when both events occurred, which irreparably woke me from the illusion of being in a “safe” and “peaceful” Canadian society.
Yes, it is true. We live in a society where we can be dead at any unpredictable moment, like taking the wrong step into the wrong metro station.
Yes, it is true. We live in a society where happiness is virtually unattainable, yet accidental murder is needlessly available.
Yes, it is true. Me and anyone else could have been that 37-year-old man whose family was deprived of a Thanksgiving reunion and who is deprived of the right to live. The thought of this made me wonder: what caused Canadian society to be a place where safety is the new scarcity?
To answer this question, I would like to begin with a few October news. Two men aged 18 and 20 were arrested after committing deadly arson in Old Montreal on October 4th, killing a mother and her seven-year-old daughter. Subsequently, seven teens between the ages of 14 and 17 were arrested on suspicion of numerous atrocious crimes, including robbery, firearms offences, arson, and extortion. Montreal Police also states the trend of organized criminal gangs recruiting young and defenseless children.
The common denominator in these two events is the increased participation of youth in criminal activities.
My answer to why Canada, and on a smaller scale, Montreal, has stopped creating a safe living environment is that people’s mentality regarding institutions, crimes, and personal meaning systems has been significantly destroyed and therefore transformed. What we experience now is the process of a unanimous decline in mental health, particularly in younger populations, and is also the direct aftermath of post-pandemic socio-economic chaos.
We have all experienced the feeling and sudden realization of “when did Montreal become this way?”, perhaps even with the obvious answer of “always”. Seeing Montreal through the seemingly peaceful suburbs, we will undoubtedly overlook the ugly yet truthful image of a city drenched in daily commotions. Montreal is, in reality, a city of fire alarms, police patrols, the reeking of marijuana, the cries of homelessness, and inevitably, our internal yawp loud enough to blind us against the above externalities.
To end with a final statement: Canada has reached a new high of societal instability, and in defense, we must combat not only conscious crimes but also society’s unconscious crimes against people’s sense of meaning and belonging.