Founded by the Sisters of St Joseph nuns, the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital is the oldest hospital in North America (after a hospital in Mexico City) and an institution of great importance to many Montrealers. Decommissioned since health services were moved to the CHUM super hospital, the community has advocated for a decade that it not be privatized, but that it continue to provide essential social services like healthcare, cooperative housing for families, non-profit social housing, spaces for community services, art and culture, and urban agriculture.
The Communauté St Urbain, co-founded by the MPCC. is the coalition of 60 community organizations in Montreal, especially on the Plateau.
In 2023, a breakthrough of sorts took place. The director of the CHUM created an alliance between the CSU, UdeM’s Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Social Work, and the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-
Montréal. The goal was to establish, by 2024, a community medical clinic on 2–3 floors of Pavillon Jeanne-Mance of the hospital. A community health clinic was one of the original demands from the CSU some years ago. The CSU agreed to support this project, and in return have support for developing social housing on other parts of the site, such as the parking lots.
The CSU is still fighting for the goal of converting the big parking lot on Saint-Urbain street to housing cooperatives for families.