aka State of Emergency, a five day festival for the homeless in Montreal, organized by the Action terroriste socialement acceptable, French for Socially Acceptable Terrorist Action. Artists from around the province come together and entertain the homeless people in an urban village setting near my home. During the 5 days, le sans-abri, the homeless, are fed, clothed and entertained; but more importantly the non-homeless people are given an opportunity to mingle with them in a non-zoo, non-phobic setting. 
Here's a seemingly well to do girl dancing with a sans-abri; if her expression is misleading, it is the photographer's fault - she really enjoyed every moment of it, just as much as this man did, this man with traces of a good looking youth bygone.
Some photographers, keep their distance, clean shaved, lining the wall next to the stage; but yet others mingle with the people, dance and have a good time while taking pictures. I try to learn from the latter. They are also the people who'll talk to you when they see you have a SLR, and offer tips and critique your pics...
The ambiance was exhilarating and thought provoking. Homelessness, whether in Sri Lanka, US or here is sad. But they are all very different. with the tight social/familial network in SL homelesness is of a lesser degree, but if you are homeless, you are only the recipient of benevolence in a patronizing manner. The number of homeless people here is quite large; that comes with the looser social ties of the western society - but the strong middle class supports them in the form of shelters, food shelves etc. And then Montreal goes a step further with events like this.
Still these countries can do much more. Every winter a few homeless people die in the cold, outside, in parks, under bridges. And every time, the shelters talk about how many beds are vacant in a given day. But in reality when these people go to the shelters several things are checked - are they taking their medicine, are the wasted, are they stoned. So people with sizeable egos, refuse to go there... I totally understand the need for such checks at these shelters. But I also have the question - why save a grown human's life, just to crush their soul and rid their ego?
I can't be like this, Frankie. Not after what I've done. I've seen the world. People chanted my name. I got it all. Don't let 'em keep taking it away from me. Don't let me lie here 'till I can't hear those people chanting no more
- Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby
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