Providing Shelter for At-Risk Women in Montreal 

On her first day of work in 2014, Marina Boulos-Winton met a woman who had fled from Toronto to Montreal. She had abandoned all her belongings, driven by the belief that an unknown person was covertly entering her apartment to contaminate her food.   

This is one of many heartbreaking stories Boulos-Winton hears in her work as executive director of Chez Doris, originally a day shelter for vulnerable women in Montreal since 1977. 

“They come with no network of people who can help them,” she says. “Some, like this woman, see us a sanctuary.” 

Despite the invaluable services provided by the shelter, its doors had to close daily at 3 p.m., leaving many women with no place to go at night in a city where beds were at capacity. 

So, in 2017, Chez Doris began planning a night shelter and was able to acquire a nearby townhouse. Despite the pandemic, they campaigned for funds to establish a 24-bed shelter and 26 affordable apartments for at-risk women. 

“In 2020, we saw the true scale of homelessness and the dire consequences women faced,” says Boulos-Winton. To meet the escalating needs, Chez Doris extended its operating hours and established a night shelter in a hotel, providing 40 rooms. 

It was at that time that the Azrieli Foundation came on board with a seven-year grant to support Chez Doris’s night shelter project. And in September 2022, Chez Doris was able to open a new, permanent overnight shelter across the street from their day shelter. 

“Receiving support from the Azrieli Foundation put wind in our sails,” says Boulos-Winton. “It encouraged other donors to contribute, while giving women the hope for something better from life.”