Some Montreal parents have been saying for years that their children were exposed to the impacts of homelessness, drug use and public disorder – right outside the doors of their Chinatown daycare.
The signs of the challenges families and staff say they’ve faced are evident: a security guard stood outside the CPE Le Petit Palais on Wednesday afternoon, and a wall separating the children’s play area from the street bears a no-smoking sign.
“We can’t move around the daycare centre because it’s really surrounded on all sides,” said Sylvie Chabot, the daycare’s general director. “The homeless people, either they set up camps or they settle in the surrounding areas. So for us, it’s really not safe to walk around with the children.”
The security guard and “no smoking” sign at the existing CPE Le Petit Palais location in Chinatown, May 13, 2026. (Lola Kalder, CityNews)
But that unrest is about to be alleviated.
“We’re finally going to be relocated after two-and-a-half years of effort,” Chabot said. “So we’re very happy; we’ve found a new location to offer the children, a safe environment.”
Sylvie Chabot, the general director of CPE Le Petit Palais, speaking to CityNews from its current location, May 13, 2026. (Lola Kalder, CityNews)
The Chinese Association of Montreal says the situation got so bad for some, that many younger families have been moving out.
“Because they realize it’s an untenable situation. It’s very hard to bring up a young family and they have to expose their kids to this sort of chaos,” said the association’s vice-president, Bryant Chang.
One of those families was Phil Chu’s. His daughter attended CPE Le Petit Palais for about five years. He describes seeing open drug use, paraphernalia, and aggressive behaviour. He recounts the daily stress of navigating the neighbourhood. He says some CPE outings even required police escorts.
“It was something that I really, honestly, I don’t wish upon anybody to experience because it was a very taxing period for myself and my family,” Chu said. “It was very stressful. We were in constant fear.”
The daycare’s new site – on Bonsecours Street in Old Montreal – is about a 10-minute walk from the current location. The CPE’s director says all children currently enrolled are expected to move with it.
The upcoming location for CPE Le Petit Palais, once it moves from its current Chinatown location. (Lola Kalder, CityNews)
“Whatever you build within a community, that’s what becomes of that community,” Chu said. “You want families to be in the neighbourhood, well, you build basic services that care towards families.”
In a statement to CityNews, the mayor’s Ville-Marie borough cabinet said: “The situation at Le Petit Palais daycare centre… demonstrates the scale of the challenges in Chinatown.
“We want to make Chinatown a welcoming place for families again. We are already working on cleanliness and security, but it’s going to take some time to see the results.”
In an email, Montreal police also acknowledged the move and said it’s continuing to work with community organizations that support vulnerable people in an effort to improve safety and social cohesion in the neighbourhood.
“The city, I think they’ve put some things in place, organizations and all that. But it’s not enough,” Chabot said. “We need to work a little harder and put trained people in place for this.”
CPE Le Petit Palais is set to relocate by June 1, ending nearly seven years at its current location.
Keep it Factual
Add CityNews Montreal as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.
