Article / Archive
Author of the article:
Sabrina Maddeaux
Published Jul 13, 2023 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute read
Just a few weeks ago, on World Refugee Day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau trumpeted his government’s commitment to refugees. In a statement, he said, “Everyone deserves a safe place to call home … And Canada is stepping up: In 2022, for the fourth year in a row, we were the top country in the world to resettle refugees.”
He concluded it with, “Today, we come together as Canadians to keep our country a welcoming place and help build a safer world for everyone.”
His high-minded words are near impossible to square with the current scene unfolding in downtown Toronto. Asylum seekers, including families and children, are being effectively abandoned on the pavement outside of 129 Peter St., a City of Toronto assessment and referral centre for those experiencing homelessness.
The trouble is, Toronto’s shelters are full, so there’s nowhere to refer asylum seekers to when they land at Pearson International Airport. Instead, they’re sent to wait outside 129 Peter indefinitely.
They’ve been sleeping on concrete for weeks, through heat- and air-quality warnings, through thunderstorms and cold nights, many without adequate food or water.
Now in the dozens, asylum seekers have begun to set up an encampment using tarps, sleeping bags and blankets dropped off by volunteers. Yet, according to community worker and homelessness advocate Diana Chan McNally, security guards won’t allow anyone to fully cover themselves when it rains, citing security concerns.
Some asylum seekers end up in emergency rooms with both physical and psychological ailments after being forced to sleep exposed on the streets night after night. During recent heat waves, no level of government even bothered to supply water bottles.
After she dropped off supplies at 129 Peter this week, McNally shared disturbing details about the dire conditions. “Only ten people are allowed to shower each day and washroom access is one at a time. Menstruating women told us how difficult it was for them to stay clean under these conditions. Washroom/shower access is also only between 8 am and 8 pm,” she wrote on Twitter.
What’s happening in Toronto is anything but welcoming and safe for refugees and asylum seekers. It certainly doesn’t match Trudeau’s claims that Canada is “stepping up” to help.
Refugees are the federal government’s responsibility by way of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), but new Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow accuses the feds of being deadbeats when it comes to paying the bills. At a recent press conference, Chow looked straight into the cameras as she said, “The federal government is not paying a cent right now for refugees’ housing, period.”
Despite allowing record numbers of refugee claimants to enter Canada in recent years, many of whom arrive in or head to Toronto, there’s a grand total of zero federally funded shelters for refugees in the city.
Chow says one-third of Toronto’s current shelter system users are refugees, as more and more pile in front of 129 Peter to wait for a spot. The cash-strapped city says it needs $97 million from Trudeau’s government to meet projected costs for this year alone — and it wants it up front, not to be reimbursed at some vague later date.
Trudeau’s government must step up as promised, and meet its financial obligations when it comes to those in need of asylum. They should not be used as points of pride in press statements, then tossed aside upon actually crossing our borders.
Resettling — if that word can even be used to refer to dumping people on the street to fend for themselves — more refugees than any other country doesn’t mean very much if this is what it looks like.
Sabrina Maddeaux: Liberals 'resettling' asylum seekers by dumping them on the pavement
Dire scene in Toronto as dozens of migrants forced to live on the sidewalk for weeksAuthor of the article:
Sabrina Maddeaux
Published Jul 13, 2023 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute read
Just a few weeks ago, on World Refugee Day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau trumpeted his government’s commitment to refugees. In a statement, he said, “Everyone deserves a safe place to call home … And Canada is stepping up: In 2022, for the fourth year in a row, we were the top country in the world to resettle refugees.”
He concluded it with, “Today, we come together as Canadians to keep our country a welcoming place and help build a safer world for everyone.”
Article content
His high-minded words are near impossible to square with the current scene unfolding in downtown Toronto. Asylum seekers, including families and children, are being effectively abandoned on the pavement outside of 129 Peter St., a City of Toronto assessment and referral centre for those experiencing homelessness.
The trouble is, Toronto’s shelters are full, so there’s nowhere to refer asylum seekers to when they land at Pearson International Airport. Instead, they’re sent to wait outside 129 Peter indefinitely.
They’ve been sleeping on concrete for weeks, through heat- and air-quality warnings, through thunderstorms and cold nights, many without adequate food or water.
Now in the dozens, asylum seekers have begun to set up an encampment using tarps, sleeping bags and blankets dropped off by volunteers. Yet, according to community worker and homelessness advocate Diana Chan McNally, security guards won’t allow anyone to fully cover themselves when it rains, citing security concerns.
Some asylum seekers end up in emergency rooms with both physical and psychological ailments after being forced to sleep exposed on the streets night after night. During recent heat waves, no level of government even bothered to supply water bottles.
After she dropped off supplies at 129 Peter this week, McNally shared disturbing details about the dire conditions. “Only ten people are allowed to shower each day and washroom access is one at a time. Menstruating women told us how difficult it was for them to stay clean under these conditions. Washroom/shower access is also only between 8 am and 8 pm,” she wrote on Twitter.
What’s happening in Toronto is anything but welcoming and safe for refugees and asylum seekers. It certainly doesn’t match Trudeau’s claims that Canada is “stepping up” to help.
Refugees are the federal government’s responsibility by way of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), but new Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow accuses the feds of being deadbeats when it comes to paying the bills. At a recent press conference, Chow looked straight into the cameras as she said, “The federal government is not paying a cent right now for refugees’ housing, period.”
Despite allowing record numbers of refugee claimants to enter Canada in recent years, many of whom arrive in or head to Toronto, there’s a grand total of zero federally funded shelters for refugees in the city.
Chow says one-third of Toronto’s current shelter system users are refugees, as more and more pile in front of 129 Peter to wait for a spot. The cash-strapped city says it needs $97 million from Trudeau’s government to meet projected costs for this year alone — and it wants it up front, not to be reimbursed at some vague later date.
Trudeau’s government must step up as promised, and meet its financial obligations when it comes to those in need of asylum. They should not be used as points of pride in press statements, then tossed aside upon actually crossing our borders.
Resettling — if that word can even be used to refer to dumping people on the street to fend for themselves — more refugees than any other country doesn’t mean very much if this is what it looks like.
