The Mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow, has apologized for what she described as unacceptable treatment of refugees and asylum seekers who were left sleeping on the streets in downtown Toronto for weeks while reiterating her calls for more funding from the federal government to tackle the crisis.
During a news conference at Revivaltime Tabernacle Church, Chow said: “It takes a tremendous amount of courage and strength to pick up, leave your belongings, and your friends and relatives and flee to another country. That’s who they are. They arrived here as refugees. And I want to honour their courage and their resilience.
“I also want on behalf of the City of Toronto and other levels of government to apologize for the way they’ve been treated on the streets and the lack of dignity that they experienced.”
Chow was at the North York church to visit the refugees and asylum seekers that have been accommodated there for around two weeks.
She said: “There’s absolutely no excuses whatsoever to be at a new country lost, both physically, spiritually and materially. Some literally lost their belonging, and their identification, which is critical for them to apply for refugee status. And that’s just not acceptable.”
The church around Dufferin Street and Finch Avenue West is one of the several groups that have helped in housing the hundreds of refugees who were rejected by Toronto’s overwhelmed shelter system in June with the city referring them to federal programs. That made many spend weeks outside a shelter intake downtown under the sun and in the rain.
The federal government eventually gave Toronto $97 million to offer shelter spaces for refugees and asylum seekers. While thanking the government for the money, Chow said that the money was not enough to tackle the issue.
The mayor renewed her call to pledge long-term solutions to help refugees and asylum seekers coming to Toronto.
One of the churches is establishing a reception centre around Toronto Pearson International Airport where claimants can find help upon landing in the country.
Chow disclosed churches should not be responsible for helping refugees find housing and work.
She said: “This is not a reception centre. This is a church — a church where people pray, get married, have funerals” and added the facility’s gym, where summer programs for youths were supposed to take place, has also closed to accommodate more spaces.
She said: “All of that was cancelled because they are stepping up.”
She later thanked the churches and everyone who has donated so far. She added that the federal government “should do the same.”
She said: “It cannot be a short-term fix. We need a long-term solution. That small amount of money is not enough.”
She noted that the city needs at least $160 million to ensure there are shelter spaces available and added that the additional 250 shelter beds approved by the city council last week have been nearly allocated.
She said: “We’re full again. We’re at 3,300 refugees. The city notes that as of today, 242 asylum seekers have been referred to the temporary shelter spaces, which are at two hotels and an existing city emergency shelter location.”
Earlier this week, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland stated that the government would not be able to provide Toronto extra funds to help the city with its $1 billion deficit, stating in a letter to Chow that “the ability of the federal government to spend is not infinite.”
While responding, Chow said if the federal government does not want to tackle Toronto’s fiscal crisis, it should at least fulfil its responsibility to refugees and asylum seekers.
She said: “The City of Toronto is broke. It’s not the first time you heard it. They didn’t want to deal with that deficit. Fine. That’s okay. We’ll figure it out.
“But we have people daily arriving in this country, and they are arriving at Pearson. They’re arriving in Toronto, to the Greater Toronto Area, and we need the federal government to take their responsibility seriously and help us welcome them.”
Chow advised the newly appointed federal ministers of housing and immigration to visit the church to witness the situation.
She said: “They need to see the mattresses, the outpouring of support, but there’s also the quiet desperation that is being faced by these refugee claimants.
“Come and visit. Do it soon because this situation cannot continue. They need their churches back. The young people need their churches back.”
SUPPORT NIGERIAN CANADIAN NEWSPAPER CANADA
If you like our work and want to keep enjoying what we offer, kindly support us by donating to the Nigerian Canadian News by clicking here
Share your thoughts in the comments section below
Do you want to share any news or information with us? If yes, contact the publisher at publisher@test1.nascitest.club
