It has been two weeks since she fled from violence in Uganda and arrived in Canada to seek asylum, but Prosscovia Namusisi has been sleeping on streets in Toronto since her arrival.
Namusisi happens to be a member of a group of asylum seekers from Africa that are sleeping outside Toronto’s shelter intake office at Peter and Richmond streets downtown. While explaining why the group sleeps outside, she said the city tells them everyday that no space is available in any of its shelters.
She said she has only been able to go inside the facility to use its toilet and showers periodically, while the majority of food and supplies they’ve gotten came from local aid organizations.
She said: “I ask myself that if there were no people who come and give us some stuff to use, how will we survive?”
While talking to CBC Toronto, another asylum seeker, Asuman Najib Ssali, said he left Uganda because he and his family encountered persecution for opposing the government, and living outside in the heat and rain has been extraordinarily difficult.
He said: “I’ve spent six days here sleeping on the street, hoping I’ll get help from the government, from the good citizens of Canada.”
However, it remains unclear when they will be helped and who will help them.
Toronto’s filled-up shelter system has not been accepting refugees and asylum seekers since the start of June and has been referring them to federal programs, revealing it needs more financial backing from the federal government. Meanwhile, many asylum seekers can’t obtain federal support if their claims haven’t been fully approved, leaving many of them stuck in limbo with nowhere to sleep.
For some asylum seekers, the elongated period outside has affected their health negatively.
While talking about the problems encountered by the asylum seekers, Diana Chan McNally, a harm reduction case manager with local church and shelter All Saints, stated that many have not had access to proper hygiene for days, including a man that now has trench foot.
She said: “This is not 1919. We’re not in the middle of a war. These are just rudimentary illnesses that shouldn’t exist if we had proper shelter for people.”
According to her, local organizations are bearing the responsibility of fundraising and offering food and supplies.
She said: “The fact that it’s falling to us is unacceptable.”
While talking to CBC Radio’s Metro Morning recently, Deputy Mayor of Toronto, Jennifer McKelvie, says the shelter system cannot contain the number of people coming to the city.
She said: “We want to welcome people to Toronto, but we’re not setting them up for success, and we need our federal partners to step up. There’s much more they can do around that.”
She said besides additional funding, the government needs to help coordinate and offer space to refugee claimants in the other shelters operating across the country.
She said: “Refugees are a federal responsibility. They need to step up. They need to help out.”
Gord Tanner, Toronto’s Shelter, Support & Housing Administration’s General Manager, said 3,000 out of Toronto’s 9,000-bed shelter system are used by refugee claimants.
He said: “Toronto’s not alone in this.”
He added that Peel Region, Durham Region, and the City of London are all encountering significant pressures.
He stressed that the federal government supported Toronto with over $70 million in 2022, which covered around 98 percent of the city’s cost last year.
Shirven Rezvany, spokesperson for the newly sworn-in Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, informed CBC News via email that the city needs $157 million to offset existing shelter costs for refugee claimants.
Rezvany said: “As arrivals grow, that number will increase.”
Meanwhile, the federal government says through the Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP), it has disbursed $700 million fund to provincial and municipal governments.
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