CREDIT: DAVE SIDAWAY, THE GAZETTE Glenmount neighbours Francine Brodeur and Patrick Hamel have revived their residents' association to fight demerger from T.M.R.

Francine Brodeur and her neighbours are caught between a rock and a hard place.

Their tiny Montreal enclave of Glenmount has always wanted to be part of neighbouring Town of Mount Royal. Now that the community has finally got its wish - albeit, by annexation to Mont Royal borough - residents find themselves in municipal limbo.

Mont Royal borough has money budgeted for much needed road upgrades and maintenance work in Glenmount.

But Mont Royal blue-collar workers won't set foot in the area, pending the signing of an island-wide collective agreement, because Glenmount is within the former city of Montreal blue-collar zone.

To make things worse, some Mont Royal residents are agitating for demerger, and their success would mean booting Glenmount back to Montreal.

"We are abandoned - they just don't see us," said Brodeur, a spokesperson for the Glenmount community association. "It's like living in no-man's-land."

Brodeur said Glenmount residents have always felt part of T.M.R.: their families use the same schools, churches, library and sports facilities, only a few minutes' walk away.

Despite the proximity, Glenmount never made it onto the T.M.R. map. Annexation talks over the last six decades between officials in the former T.M.R. and city of Montreal went nowhere, Brodeur said. But the municipalities did agree, under pressure from the Glenmount community, on a compensation package to permit Glenmount residents to use T.M.R. schools and recreation programs.

Brodeur and neighbour Patrick Hamel have revived the near-dormant community association now that their brief annexation to Mont Royal appears to be in jeopardy.

She would like to have a say in the referendum, but she can't - only residents of the former T.M.R. are allowed to vote.

Mont Royal borough mayor Suzanne Caron says she sympathizes with Glenmount residents.

While Caron lobbies for demerger, she can understand that some Glenmount residents might cheer for the No side.

"I have nothing against them - we are both stuck in a situation that we do not control."

acarroll@thegazette.canwest.com