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Montreal neighbourhood to hold vigil after unhoused migrant found dead
Organizers say 123 unhoused people died in Quebec in 2024 as they seek more shelters and legal status for undocumented migrants.
On Tuesday, community organizations in Montreal's Parc-Extension district held a vigil for 42-year-old Manjeet Singh, an unhoused migrant who died in hospital on January 16, 2026.
Singh arrived from India in 2018 as a refugee claimant but became undocumented after his work permit expired in 2022; community worker Amina Saman said she attempted to help him find housing in early January.
Coordinator Amy Darwish noted that rent prices in Parc-Extension skyrocketed after a new university campus arrived in 2019, creating "highly precarious and highly exploitative" conditions that leave vulnerable residents with few housing options.
The vigil follows the Quebec coroner's office launching an inquest into rising homelessness deaths, with statistics showing a sharp increase from 19 deaths in 2020 to 123 in 2024.
Community organizations are pressuring policymakers to implement emergency shelters and warming centres in the neighbourhood while calling for a program granting legal status to undocumented migrants to prevent future preventable deaths.