Knitting group is a warm way to connect with Montreal's homeless

Gilles Chiasson knows all too well what it’s like to live on the streets of Montreal, fighting off frigid temperatures and feelings of social disconnection as people bustle about their busy lives around him, hardly sparing a glance.

While it has been many years since he last slept on a sidewalk, Chiasson hasn’t forgotten the icy loneliness. Now he is looking to reach out to the homeless people of Montreal, offering warmth for both the body and the heart.

“People don’t go homeless because they can’t pay the bills,” said Chiasson, born and raised in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. “They go homeless because they don’t feel a connection either to their families, their jobs or the community. I see it every time I see somebody that is homeless. I see someone who just doesn’t feel connected.”

Though he didn’t have any experience with the handicraft, Chiasson founded a knitting group last month because he saw it as a way to not only protect homeless people from the elements, but also to show them that somebody cares. Together, some with knitting experience and some without, members of the small group meet every Tuesday in N.D.G. to make hats, socks, leg warmers, scarves and more to give to those who will need extra layers in the coming months.

“If someone gets a pair of socks that was knitted for them, they can see it was done by hand for them, and it might help them feel like somebody is trying to connect with them,” said Chiasson. “It’s just trying to give them a sense that they are not forgotten. They are not ignored.”

Knitting has been challenging to learn, Chiasson admits, but he’s determined to make it work because he sees it as a great way to reach out to Montreal’s thousands of homeless people.

By the time Chiasson was about 22 years old, he was struggling to find his place in the world. That struggle led him to a life on the streets, where he stayed for well over a year. Throughout his 20s, he bounced around — couch surfing with no place to call home. He didn’t land on his feet until he was about 32, taking up work in hardware. He pushed on, learning to cope with feelings that still churned for many years after. He built a life for himself in N.D.G., never forgetting his past.

The 63-year-old has been retired since 2001 and has dedicated much of his free time to volunteering. In recent years, he developed the idea of learning how to knit and founding a group that gives handmade warmth to the homeless.

“I hope that in some small way, they will get the message that there are people out there that don’t want them to suffer more than they have to,” said Chiasson. “We just want them to know they are not invisible.”

He presented the idea of a knitting group to Miranda Potts, a senior outreach worker with the non-profit group Prevention C.D.N.–N.D.G. With her help, his initiative was soon set into motion.

The group now gathers in the new Cavendish Senior Day Centre, on Cavendish Blvd. just south of Sherbrooke St. About a dozen people of varying ages have already joined the cause.

As the knitted goods begin to pile up, the next step is to establish partnerships with non-profit organizations that work with the city’s homeless population. There is talk of working with groups like Chez Doris, the St-James Drop-In Centre and the N.D.G. Food Depot.

They may also just hand out the wearable warmth themselves.

“We are seeing more and more homeless in N.D.G.,” observed Potts. “A lot of our stuff will be distributed here, as we just have to go down to Loyola Park at night and we will find people.”

Susan Flemming’s story is similar to Chiasson’s. She found herself struggling on the streets of Quebec City in her teenage years, but now she’s a writer, designer, mother and grandmother who is helping to teach group members the ways of the knitting needle while making her own goods for donation.

With winter coming, she said, warm socks and shoes are vital, as homeless people’s feet are at such high risk.

“I had a friend that didn’t have $8 to get his health card updated,” she recounted. “He had gangrene in his toes and he ended up losing his leg. I’ve found this time and time again. These little things we take for granted. It’s tragic.”

The plan is to establish more small-scale knitting groups in the area and get youth involved as well, especially in mat-making, which involves cutting plastic shopping bags into strips and crocheting them into an insulating pad that keeps the body off the ground.

Chiasson said the group intends to begin selling handicrafts at holiday bazaars to purchase more knitting supplies and goods for donation. Donations of crocheting and knitting supplies are welcome as the group expands.

Those who want to give, or to join the group, can contact Potts at [email protected].