'We need help': Toronto churches close their doors to asylum seekers due to dwindling resources

Two Toronto churches say they've been forced to close their doors to refugee claimants seeking shelter after housing hundreds of asylum seekers since last summer.

Pilgrim Feast Tabernacles in Etobicoke and Dominion Church International in North York have shut down their shelter operations for asylum seekers in the past two weeks largely due to financial difficulties, but are exploring alternative options to continue meeting the rising demand.

"We are grateful for donations. A lot of donations have been coming in. But with time, people stopped giving money," said Pastor Eddie Jjumba, who's been overseeing the makeshift refugee shelter at Dominion Church International, adding volunteers can't afford to buy food or services like garbage removal and cleaning.

"We have come to a point where we are practically not able to afford those things."

The city says Dominion Church and Pilgrim Feast are among the churches "leading the refugee response" after the issue made headlines last summer, when refugee claimants had no choice but to sleep on Toronto streets.

Jjumba says beyond running out of resources, turning away people in need of help and shelter has "taken a toll" on church volunteers. Still, they're hopeful that temporarily closing will give them an opportunity to come back even better, since the church is working on constructing a 500-bed shelter.

"We are closing so we can take a step back to plan," said Jjumba.

Pilgrim Feast Tabernacles opened their church doors in July and also became a makeshift asylum seeker shelter. They've struggled to keep open multiple locations and are now looking for one main site, and hope they can find some help to do it, said Nadine Miller, the executive director of Pilgrim Feast Tabernacles.

"We are looking for help. We need help right now," said Miller.

"We don't mind doing the work, because we've been doing it. But we need people to come alongside us."

Both groups say they're grateful for help that the city and the federal ministry of Immigration and Refugees have provided, but say more needs to be done. 

In an email response, the city says it's currently supporting more than 5,000 refugee claimants — almost 50 per cent of the total number of people being supported through shelter services — but admits it's hard to find shelter for everyone due to unprecedented demand on the shelter system.

But, it said its helped refer clients to shelter spaces and facilitate donations for the churches, also giving a collective $190,015 to Dominion Church and Pilgrim Feast $285,305 in reimbursements for expenses occurred while doing this work.

"The City continues to work closely with the churches, mosques and other organizations that are hosting refugee claimants," the email reads.