Toronto mayor apologizes to asylum seekers who slept on streets as advocates call for action
CBC
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow apologized to hundreds of asylum seekers who spent weeks living on the street in the city's downtown core after being denied access to the city's shelter system.
On Friday, Chow visited to the Revivaltime Tabernacle Church and Dominion Church International Toronto, two churches that have been providing shelter to the asylum seekers, many of whom are from Africa.
"It takes a tremendous amount of courage and strength to pick up, leave all your belongings and your friends and relatives and flee to another country," Chow said.
"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. The way they've been treated on the streets and the lack of dignity that they experience, there's absolutely no excuse whatsoever," Chow added.
Toronto has been turning away asylum seekers from shelters since the beginning of June and referring them to federal programs after the number of asylum seekers in its shelter system grew by 500 per cent in 20 months, according to city officials.
However, many asylum seekers can't get federal help if their claims haven't been fully granted, leaving many in limbo with nowhere to sleep.
Chow said Toronto has received some "short term funding" from both the federal and the provincial governments, but stressed that it's "a very small amount."
She said based on the amount of money that was available, city council approved 250 shelter spaces in hotels and they've all been used up already.
"Yes, hotels are expensive, but our shelters are full," she said, adding that there are currently 3,300 asylum seekers in need of shelter.
The mayor also reiterated her call to the federal government to help the city with more funding so that the asylum seekers can move out of the churches.
"This is not a reception centre, this is a church. It's a church where people pray, get married, have funerals, the gym, summer programs for kids, basketball, Friday night drop in for teenagers," she said.
"All of that [has been] cancelled because they are stepping up. We're incredibly grateful for the churches, the African Canadian community, the Black community and all the generous donors... Thank you."
Judith James, the pastor of Revivaltime Tabernacle Church, said the congregation felt it was "important and necessary to house our brothers and sisters who are faced with deplorable conditions and found themselves without housing and sleeping in the streets of Toronto."
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