Category: In the News

In the News

Toronto Ombudsman Report: An Investigation into the City’s Decision to Stop Allowing Refugee Claimants into Base Shelter System Beds

The 2022 City of Toronto decision to stop allowing refugee claimants into base shelter system beds had “harmful impacts” and was “inconsistent with City policies,” according to a report released on Thursday by the Toronto Ombudsman, Kwame Addo.

In November 2022, the City of Toronto decided to stop allowing refugee claimants access to its base shelter system beds. The City made this decision public in May 2023 and redirected refugee claimants to federal services.

The City reversed the eligibility change in July 2023, but the report says it took almost another two more months for that decision to be put into effect.

In July 2023, Mayor Olivia Chow delivered a public apology to refugees for “the way they’ve been treated on the streets and the lack of dignity that they experienced.”
“There’s absolutely no excuse whatsoever,” she said.

The Toronto Onbudsman’s investigation, entitled An Investigation into the City’s Decision to Stop Allowing Refugee Claimants into Base Shelter System Beds, was launched to determine “how, when, and why this decision was made; whether the decision was fair, transparent and demonstrated accountability; whether the decision was consistent with relevant City policies; whether it was in line with the City’s commitments to realize the human right to adequate housing; and the impact on refugee claimants.”

The investigation, according toi the report, “uncovered several critical issues with the City’s decision,” including:

  • Inconsistent with City policies: “the decision went against key City policies meant to ensure universal access to services.”
  • Unhelpful referrals, harmful impacts: “the City referred refugee claimants to federal services City staff knew did not provide temporary shelter. Some were turned away from City shelters even when a bed was available.”
  • Lack of accountability: “the decision lacked proper documentation, leaving no clear record of who approved it or why.”
  • Systemic discrimination: “the decision amounted to systemic discrimination on the basis of citizenship and race – specifically, anti-Black racism as most of the refugee claimants were of African descent and Black, and the City knew that.”

In the report Ombudsman Toronto made a total of 14 recommendations to:

  • Improve and clarify City processes for major eligibility decisions affecting refugee claimants
  • Train staff on anti-Black racism and the human right to adequate housing
  • Meaningfully consult with experts and affected communities
  • Strengthen accountability

The report states that “these recommendations will strengthen fairness and transparency, and further the human right to adequate housing in the City’s shelter system, ensuring all residents are treated with dignity and respect.”

In a letter to Addo dated Nov. 26, City Manager Paul Johnson said he disagrees with the findings of the report. Johnson said that he was “disheartened” by the report’s “accusatory” tone, adding that it demonstrates a “lack of understanding of the context the city was in at the time” as well as the “roles and responsibilities of other orders of government.”

 

Trudeau cierra las puertas de Canadá y crece el temor de las organizaciones de refugiados

Julio César Rivas, EFE

Incluso antes de la victoria de Donald Trump en Estados Unidos, Canadá ya había empezado a cerrar sus puertas a los migrantes. Ahora, organizaciones que trabajan con refugiados temen que las nuevas políticas canadienses y de la Casa Blanca empujen a los solicitantes de asilo a soluciones desesperadas y peligrosas.

[…]

Loly Rico, fundadora del FCJ Refugee Centre, una de las organizaciones que desde 1991 más trabajo realizan en defensa de los refugiados[…], teme que estas políticas harán que un mayor número de personas intenten cruzar de forma irregular la frontera entre EE UU y Canadá, especialmente en los próximos meses durante el crudo invierno canadiense.

“Van a cruzar con frío, sin protección, más vulnerables a los traficantes. Porque la movilidad nunca la han parado ni los muros de Trump en el sur ni los cambios de política en el norte”, explicó.

[…]

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Leer también: Canada to reduce new immigration by 21 percent

Canada to reduce new immigration by 21 percent

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced this Thursday that Canada will reduce its annual intake of permanent residents immediately by 21 per cent, to 395,000 next year, 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.

The share of skilled and economic permanent residents will be at 59 per cent, followed by those under family reunification (24 per cent), and humanitarian and refugee stream (17 per cent).

Canada’s temporary population including international students, foreign workers and refugees will also be reduced by 445,901 in 2025, 445,662 in 2026 but increased modestly by 17,439 in 2027.

The announcement contrasts with the one made last year by the federal government to further increase permanent resident intake to 500,000 in 2025. It’s also a shift in policy by a government that has steadily increased immigration levels since it took power in 2015.

The government said the plan “will pause population growth in the short term to achieve well-managed, sustainable growth in the long term”.

The announcement came just days after a long-term tracking poll by Environics Institute found 58 per cent Canadians said there’s “too much immigration,” the first time in a quarter-century that a clear majority of respondents share that view.

“Canada has betrayed the world’s refugees”

In a public statement, the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) said: “In a shameful abdication of responsibility, the Canadian government has massively reduced its commitment to offer protection to those fleeing persecution and danger in the world, and all but ensured that refugees in Canada will remain separated from their spouses and children for years to come. The CCR condemns today’s announcement and calls on the government to reverse this dangerous course,” the announcement says.

“Behind the numbers slashed from the humanitarian component of the levels today are over 14,000 real people fleeing persecution and seeking safety in Canada or struggling in conflict zones around the world facing violence, starvation, and death. It particularly fails those already here whom we have committed to protect and their family members abroad,” said Diana Gallego, President of the CCR and FCJ Refugee Centre’s Co-Executive Director. “Canada has betrayed the world’s refugees,” she said.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that the action taken today will rob children of their futures and destroy families. People will lose their lives,” she added.

In another open letter issued also on Thursday, a coalition of more than 100 community groups expressed their disappointment with the reduction in both temporary and permanent immigration.

“This government was elected on pro-immigration platform and promised permanent resident status for migrant workers, students and undocumented people at the start of the current mandate,” the letter said. “Not delivering on them will be remembered at the ballot box.”

The group urged to ensure permanent resident status for all migrants, protect migrants already in Canada from the impacts of recent announcements; implement a comprehensive regularization program and refuse cuts to permanent residency.

Read more:

Canada betrays refugees – CCR Statement on 2025 Levels Announcement (Canadian Council for Refugees)

Federal government announces reductions in permanent resident targets (CBC News, video)

Canada announces major changes to immigration targets. Here’s what you need to know (Toronto Star)

Ottawa announces major reduction in immigration targets (The Globe and Mail)

Trudeau government to slash immigration levels (National Post)

 

Toronto’s homeless shelters now house almost triple the number of kids they did eight years ago — with more than 1,400 in hotel rooms paid for by city hall

Victoria Gibson, Toronto Star

[…] Across Toronto, child and family homelessness has been rising quickly, with more kids showing up on the doorstep of the shelter system than it was designed to handle. That growing pressure has meant a rising number of families shuffled between stopgaps and shelter overflow solutions to keep their children off the streets.

As of September, nearly 1,500 kids were staying in the city’s shelter system, two thirds of whom were 10 or younger, as well as more than 1,400 children waiting for space in scattered hotel rooms paid for by city hall.

The last decade has seen demand for Toronto’s family shelter spaces rise dramatically, with the number of kids in shelter today nearly triple counts in 2016. City hall says more than 10 times as many families are also waiting in temporary hotel rooms for vacancies compared to a past surge in 2018-19. […]

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Romero House to open apartment building for refugee families

Britnei Bilhete, CBC News

A west-end refugee settlement centre is set to open an apartment building for newcomers starting later this month.

Romero House has been providing transitional housing to refugee claimants who have arrived in Canada without private or government sponsorship since 1991 […].

It’s now leasing 2387 Dundas St. W. with the help of city funding, and will house nine refugee claimant families and three house coordinators sometime in mid-October.

Romero House executive director Francesca Allodi-Ross told CBC Toronto that the 100-year-old building was recently renovated, but for a time it was largely vacant, purchased previously by a buyer as an investment.

She said her team is grateful “to be able to offer this beautiful space… to families fleeing horrible, horrible things from around the world in this housing crisis.”

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Given asylum in Canada but separated from their families for years: Is there a better way to grant permanent residence?

Nicholas Keung, Toronto Star

For many refugee claimants, being granted protection in Canada can take 18 months. It can be much longer to reunite with the spouses and children they left behind.

And these family reunifications are bound to take even longer in the near future with the number of claimants — and accepted cases — surging, while an annual quota limits how many of the “protected persons” and their immediate family members abroad can transition to be permanent residents.

With the federal government freezing the permanent immigration levels this year through 2026, both the Canadian Bar Association and the Canadian Council for Refugees are demanding a public policy from Ottawa to let the overseas dependants of protected persons come on a temporary resident permit, to ease their prolonged separation.

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Diana Gallego: “El refugiado tiene que abandonarlo todo, no es una opción”

Con motivo del Día Mundial del Refugiado, 20 de junio, RCI conversó con dos refugiadas y dos especialistas en la materia (entre ellas, Diana Gallego, codirectora ejecutiva del FCJ Refugee Centre, y presidenta del Consejo Canadiense para los Refugiados) para conocer desde su perspectiva qué significa ser un refugiado.

Un extracto del reportaje, publicado por Maria-Gabriela Aguzzi en Radio Canada International (RCI):

[…] Para Diana Gallego, ser refugiado significa ser parte de los millones de personas que forzosamente se han visto desplazadas de sus territorios, “dejando todo, bien sea por un conflicto interno, por persecución religiosa, por ser de la comunidad LGTBQ+”.

“Pero también significa muchas mujeres que huyen de violencia doméstica y que en sus países no reciben protección. Sabemos que existen leyes en el papel, pero no existe la protección efectiva para las mujeres”.

Gallego destacó que en estos momentos ser refugiado significa igualmente “ser forzado a caminar kilómetros y kilómetros arriesgando la vida y ver que los políticos los usen para ganar votos”: “El refugiado es alguien que tiene que abandonarlo todo, no es una opción”.

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Who Are Ontario’s Undocumented Youth? FCJ Refugee Centre, at ‘The Agenda with Steve Paikin’

It is unclear how many undocumented immigrants live in Canada. Estimates range from 20,000 up to 500,000. Many of these are youth who were brought to Canada as young children and had no choice in the matter. Youth with precarious status or no status struggle to access public services like health care and education. Who are these undocumented youth, and does our country do enough to protect them?

Stefan Enrique Joseph Kallikaden, Youth and Access to Education Coordinator at FCJ Refugee Centre, talked about it at the TVO program The Agenda with Steve Paikin, together with Sarah Pole, Childhood Arrivals Support & Advocacy (CASA) Program, Director at Justice for Children and Youth Legal Clinic; Akil Augustine, producer and host at MLSE and the Toronto Raptors, formerly undocumented; and Arlo Kempf, associate professor at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.

Watch the full program in this video:

Pagar $500 para dormir en el piso: la experiencia de algunos inmigrantes

Maria-Gabriela Aguzzi, RCI

La crisis de acceso a la vivienda que vive Canadá no se limita a una región o provincia, pero en Toronto y sus alrededores las ofertas de alquiler se han “diversificado” de tal manera que ahora se alquilan no solo habitaciones, sino camas y hasta colchonetas en el piso. ¿El precio? Hasta 500 dólares mensuales por dormir en un colchón tirado en el suelo.

[…]

“Desde que cerró la carretera de Roxham Road [en marzo de 2023], Toronto se volvió otra vez lo que tradicionalmente ha sido: un punto de entrada a Canadá. Bien sea para casos de refugio, para estudiantes internacionales o para quienes cruzan la frontera de forma irregular. ¿Por qué llegan a Toronto? Porque la ciudad es conocida como un santuario donde hay muchos más servicios para ellos que en otras ciudades de Canadá”, explicó en entrevista a RCI, Loly Rico, directora del FCJ Refugee Centre.

[…]

“Lo que está pasando es que alguien renta una casa. La casa cuesta, digamos, 5.000 dólares mensuales, entonces esa persona luego empieza a rentar los cuartos y las camas. Alquilar una cama puede costar 800 dólares… una cama… o incluso 1.000 dólares, dependiendo de dónde sea. Es un abuso y una explotación, porque la gran mayoría de las personas que viven en esas condiciones no tienen permiso de trabajo”, señaló Rico.

[…]

“Esta es una problemática que viene de antes de la pandemia, sí, pero este es el peor momento, y no es porque hayan venido más inmigrantes, tampoco es el número de estudiantes internacionales. Son muchos los factores, pero sobre todo es una consecuencia de que los gobiernos no hayan invertido en la vivienda. Si se hubieran hecho inversiones en ese sector, no existirían las listas de espera de más de 10 años en programas que existen en Toronto, como el Rent-Geared-to-Income Housing [Viviendas de alquiler con opción a compra]”, indicó Loly Rico.

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