Gatineau lawyers to offer free legal guidance as Outaouais homelessness climbs

Lawyers offer free legal guidance as Outaouais homelessness climbs

Tashi Farmilo

Free legal information on housing and eviction was offered in Gatineau on October 22, when lawyers from the Barreau de l’Outaouais opened the municipal court to the public, an outreach prompted by polling that found most Quebecers would not know where to send a friend or relative at risk of losing a home.

In a Léger survey conducted for the Barreau du Québec, 23 per cent of respondents said they knew someone in their circle who had been at risk in recent years of losing housing or falling into homelessness. Sixty-three per cent said they could not name a resource to direct that person to. Seventy per cent said a free conversation with a lawyer would help, rising to 82 per cent among those who already knew someone at risk.

The region had reason to pay attention. Preliminary results from Quebec’s 2025 count, published by the Ministry of Health and Social Services, tallied 866 people in visible homelessness in the Outaouais, up from 706 in 2022 and 146 in 2018. At 200.7 per 100,000 residents, the rate trailed only Montreal and Abitibi-Témiscamingue. The count covered a single night and excluded people couch surfing or otherwise hidden, so the ministry described it as an undercount.

Rent was the pressure point. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation figures released in December 2025 put the average rent in the Gatineau area at $1,420 a month, the highest among Quebec’s metropolitan regions and 6.8 per cent above a year earlier. Vacancy rose to 3.8 per cent, but the agency found roughly 10 per cent of newly built units sitting empty while the cheapest apartments remained close to fully occupied.

“Having access to justice means understanding your rights and knowing who to turn to,” said Christian Tanguay, bâtonnier of the Barreau de l’Outaouais, in a statement. “On October 22, we are opening the doors of justice to everyone in the Outaouais, from people living on the street to young people about to sign their first lease.”

The open house covered how municipal justice works and the diversion options available locally, including the justice and community intervention program known as PAJIC, which since 2021 has allowed Gatineau residents in precarious situations to have tickets cancelled or judicial debts erased in exchange for steps toward reintegration.

The event belonged to the third Marathon juridique, which ran provincewide from October 22 to 24 with more than 20 free activities on tenant rights and the law as it applies to homelessness. The Barreau du Québec said the campaign stemmed from its action plans on housing and homelessness, which include improving how residents navigate the Tribunal administratif du logement.

This year’s spokespeople were Françoise David, a social justice activist and former member of the National Assembly, and Bernard St-Jacques, former director of Clinique Droits Devant in Montreal. “The scale of homelessness has its roots in a set of crises that come down to very concrete realities: a job loss, an eviction notice, an illness,” St-Jacques said. “Knowing your rights at the right moment can keep you from tumbling into an endless spiral.”