Mayor John Tory says Ottawa has offered nothing to help deal with Toronto’s refugee crisis

Thestar.com
May 24, 2018
Bruce Campion-Smith

Toronto Mayor John Tory says he’s “frustrated” by Ottawa’s lack of response to private and public appeals by the city for federal funding and resources to cope with an influx of refugee claimants that is straining shelters.

“We’ve been talking to them basically nonstop . . . We just haven’t had any indication of any help at all. Zero,” Tory said in an interview Thursday.

“I just don’t think that’s fair,” he said of a growing crisis that is expected to cost municipal taxpayers at least $64.5 million in 2017 and 2018.

Tory said the city has a “crisis on our hands” as college dorm rooms are transformed into shelter spaces and public buildings like community centres might be next.

“We’ve had no help from the federal government. There’s been lots of talk and lots of discussions going on for a long time now,” he told the Star.

The city has been dealing with a “sharp” increase in the number of refugee claimants since 2016, part of a growing number of migrants crossing the Canadian border in Quebec and Manitoba from the United States.

By mid-May, there were 2,683 refugee claimants in the city’s shelter system making up about 40.8 per cent of the entire system. The city expects that to rise to 4,485 people or 53.6 per cent by November.

Tory said he began sounding the alarm in private conversations with federal officials last fall when refugees began to take up an increasing number of shelter spaces. “We could see the numbers rising in our shelter system,” Tory said.

In April, the city publicly called on Queen’s Park and Ottawa to respond and laid out a wishlist that included measures to place new arrivals outside of Toronto, new locations in the city to house refugees and reimbursement of costs.

Tory said he’s “unfailingly” supportive of the historic welcoming attitude of the country and city to new arrivals. “That’s not the issue here. The issue is when they’re coming in increasing numbers to Toronto . . . we just need help in looking after them when they get here,” he said.

“It should not be the sole responsibility of the municipal government and municipal taxpayers,” he said.

Tory praised the province’s move to offer up 800 dormitory rooms at college residences in the city -- along with a promise to pay half of the $6 million cost, which he said stood in contrast to the lack of help so far from Ottawa.

Immigation Minister Ahmed Hussen and Transport Minister Marc Garneau, who chairs the intergovernmental task force on irregular migration, said Thursday that Toronto’s requests would be considered but offered little promise of a speedy response.

Hussen, a Toronto MP, said he’s talked with Tory several times. “The federal government is seized of this and we’ll do what we can to work with them as they deal with the situation,” he said on Parliament Hill.

Garneau said that Ottawa will review the demands. “I think what’s important here is that we all work together. We will hear what Ontario has to say specifically on it,” he said.

Toronto is not alone in seeking help from Ottawa. The Quebec government has called on the federal government for assistance in resettling the migrants while they await hearings on their asylum claims. Quebec is seeking reimbursement for $146 million in costs to deal with the influx.

On Wednesday, Quebec Immigration Minister David Heurtel told the Canadian Press that progress between the two levels of government has been made, including on a triage system to ask the asylum seekers where in Canada they hope to live.

Hussen said the federal government has presented several options to Ontario and Quebec to help better distribute the migrants.

“One of the solutions is to move people away from Toronto and Montreal into the regions. I know that both provinces are working on that,” Hussen said.

Ottawa is coming under increasing political pressure to address the influx of irregular migrants -- including the perception that it’s easy to settle in Canada. The latest is a pamphlet circulated in the Plattsburgh, N.Y. area that offers guidance to would-be refugees on how to cross the border.

The pamphlet, first reported by the French-language television network TVA, even notes that the taxi fare to the border should be no more than $77.50 (U.S.)

Hussen said that foreign officials would be reaching out to the Plattsburgh organization that produced it to give them a “complete picture” of Canada’s immigration system, including the fact that border crossers who don’t have a valid refugee claim are likely to be deported.

“The contents of the flyer are incomplete. They don’t really paint an accurate picture of our asylum system and it’s unfortunate because people will rely on this,” Hussen said.

In 2017, the RCMP “intercepted” 20,593 people who crossed into Canada outside normal points of entry. The vast majority of them -- 18,836 -- were arrested attempting to cross into Quebec.

Between January and April of this year, 7,612 people have been arrested attempting to make the crossing -- with 7,307 in Quebec alone.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel said the real solution is to close what she calls a loophole in the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement and designate the entire border an official port of entry.

“Until the ability for people to illegally cross the border into the Canada from the United States and claim asylum is rectified, all that you will hear for months and years on end is the demand for hundreds of millions of dollars to be poured into strained social systems to support unplanned, disorderly immigration,” said Rempel, the Conservative party’s immigration critic.

With files from David Rider and Canadian Press