Standing outside the Quality Hotel in Dorval where she’s been forced to relocate, Sonja Reiss fears she won’t be returning to her apartment building on Brunswick Boulevard in Montreal’s West Island anytime soon. 

“I’m missing work, you know, I don’t know what to do anymore,” she said. 

The resident, along with 43 others living in the Dollard-des-Ormeaux apartment building, was forced out in the middle of the night on Wednesday after firefighters determined the apartment was structurally unsound. They were called in after some residents said they felt the building shaking.

“Apparently the building had shifted. People couldn’t get out of their front door, especially people in the middle of the building,” said Reiss, who has lived in a unit on the third floor for the past eight years. In total, 18 units were evacuated. 

She says shortly after 2 a.m, residents were told to leave the building and were given only minutes to gather their belongings. Everything happened so quickly, Reiss says she didn’t even have time to take her pet bird with her. 

“No one will let me go get him. My daughter’s heartbroken,” she said. 

Red Cross steps in

Volunteers with the Canadian Red Cross in Quebec have stepped in to provide shelter, food and clothing to the residents for 72 hours, but Reiss and other tenants told CBC Montreal they fear the displacement could last longer than that and they are scrambling to find housing. City officials say they will be taken care of.

The owner of the apartment building declined an interview, but one manager says they’re waiting for an inspector to give the all-clear before people can move back in.

The cause of the incident is not known, but residents told CBC Montreal the basement garage has been undergoing renovations.

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