Toronto faith leaders call on federal government to do more to house asylum seekers

A coalition of faith-based leaders isdemanding the federal government take immediate action to help house asylum seekersarriving in Torontowith nowhere to go. The groupdelivereda letter to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland's office on Thursday.

In October, city officials said about 40 per cent of the people in Toronto's sheltersare refugee claimants and the system is already overcapacity heading into the winter months, which is likely to result inincreased demand. Churches in the Greater Toronto Area have stepped up in the interim,but say the federal government needs to be playing a larger role in keeping them off the streets.

United Church minister Rev. Alexa Gilmour says roughly 30 people are currently stayingoutside the shelter referral office on Peter Street, and some are getting sick.

"[Asylum seekers] are being turned away from the shelters that are over-full and living in front of encampments and shelters, in alleyways, and places across the city. We estimate by the hundreds," Gilmour said at a news conference outside Freeland's constituency office in Toronto.

"It's too cold for them to survive any longer. We need to act."

Thursday's conference was organized by the Crisis in Our City working group, speakers included leaders from the Christian and Muslim communities who called on the government to use federal buildings and money to help solve the problem. Gilmour said the working group is a loose coalition of organizations like churches and settlement services who have been on the front lines of the asylum seeker housing issue in Toronto.She said they came together in September.

Churches have exhausted their finances to house people, leaving some without enough money to make it through the coming weeks, saidKizito Musabimana, founder of the Rwandan Canadian Healing Centre.

"We can't continue to ask our community to do the job that the government should be doing," he said.

Musabimana saysmany of the asylum seekers sleeping outside have never lived through winter before and don't know how to keep their hands warm.

Coalition calls on feds to open armouries

The coalition wants a meeting with Freeland and Marc Miller, the minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship of Canada, to discuss humanitarian solutions. They also have a list of demands filled with actions they'd like to see the federal government take.

In the short term, the demands include:

• Using federal armouries in Toronto as emergency accommodation spaces.
• Increasing the number of spaces in federal hotel programs.
• Establishing a reception centre at Toronto Pearson International Airport to provide settlement services for new arrivals.

When it comes to longer-term solutions, the group is asking:

• The federal government match investments made by the city and province in the Canada Ontario Housing Benefit.
• The federal government reimburse the city for $200 million in costs incurred housing asylum seekers.
• The federal government commit to spending $250 million in 2024 to cover the city's cost of providing shelter.

On Tuesday, the city's executive committee unanimously passed a motion to ask the federal government to turn its armouries into accommodation. The motion still has to be considered by council.

Asked about the demands on Thursday, Miller said the federal government is working with the city on solutions for the short term.

"I don't know if armouries are ideal, frankly," he said. "Armouries have mass showers, they are being used by the military, so probably not the proper and dignified way to welcome people."

Miller said he's not entirely against the idea but believes a better solution could be found. Healsoacknowledged that faith leaders shouldn't "have had this [issue] on their shoulders in the first place."

Canada is being caught up in a "global migration crisis," said a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in a statement.

The spokesperson pointed to a federal program that provides cities with reimbursements for costs incurred housing asylum seekers, which the government extended back in July. They said the federal government has provided 3,400 hotel rooms in six provinces to temporarily house asylum seekers.