It could make your skin crawl: bedbugs all over

BAnQ is not Alone: ‘In Montreal, public buildings all deal with infestations’

A bedbug infestation at Montreal’s Grande Bibliothèque points to a larger, city-wide problem, an exterminator says after the library had to close four sections and temporarily replace 300 fabric chairs with plastic ones.

Danielle Chagnon, the general director of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationale du Québec (BAnQ), said the problem began at the end of June. The library brought in an exterminator on June 22, at which point Chagnon said they realized the infestation was worse than thought.

In the weeks since, Chagnon said they have completed two treatments to get rid of the insects and have removed all of the fabric chairs as a preventive measure.

“We really need to ask ourselves for the long term, is it really optimal to have furniture made of fabric in the Grande Bibliothèque?”

When the library selected furniture 13 years ago, bedbug infestations weren’t as prevalent, Chagnon said.

“We’re looking at other options.” But the problem reaches farther than just the one library, said Harold Leavey, president of Maheu Ltée, the extermination company working with the BAnQ.

“In Montreal, public buildings all deal with bedbug infestations,” Leavey said.

Cases can be found in hospitals, universities, movie theatres, public transit and anywhere else citizens can unknowingly bring the insects with them, he said. “It’s normal.”

In the case of the BAnQ, Leavey said “it becomes a math problem.” With between 7,000 and 8,000 visitors daily and what he called a city-wide bedbug issue, it is not surprising that they made their way inside.

Leavey also said that while the library has increased the preventive measures taken by staff, when an infestation is found, reacting quickly is key. As a result, Leavey expects it to be business as usual soon at the BAnQ.

At the beginning of July, the city of Montreal launched an online bedbug database, which allows people to browse neighbourhoods to see where exterminations have been reported.

Since July 2011, exterminators have conducted more than 43,000 interventions on the island. Of those, less than two per cent were related to non-residential buildings. “There are more and more bedbugs in Montreal, and we’ll continue to see more and more bedbug infestations in public spaces,” Leavey said, adding that in recent years, more people have been found with higher numbers of bedbugs on their bodies.

Leavey said the situation may seem worse in the summer months because “30 C is the ideal temperature for their development.”

“They develop much quicker and much larger,” he said.

Linda Boutin, spokesperson for the city of Montreal, confirmed that bedbugs have also been found at other city-run libraries, though she was unable to say how frequently. She said that since 2011, the city has been rolling out preventive measures, including staff training, regular inspections by exterminators and the purchasing of furniture made from materials that impede bedbugs from hiding.

If Montrealers find bedbugs in their homes, Leavey said, the first thing they must do is inform their landlord, if they are renters. Then he advises that they get in touch with a professional exterminator rather than attempt to deal with the situation themselves. Leavey said pesticides purchased online often have harmful side effects when not used properly.