Vaughan church leaders see discrimination in York Region's approach to African asylum seekers

Pastors of Woodbridge's Miracle Arena ask York Region politicians for help housing asylum seekers but Vaughan mayor calls site unsuitable for housing

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 15, 2023
Mike Adler

York Region should do more for African refugees and asylum seekers staying at a Woodbridge church that has become an improvised shelter, representatives told regional councillors on Thursday.

Isaac Oppong, a pastor of Miracle Arena for all Nations, suggested governments in Canada display a double-standard when asylum seekers are homeless and “look like me.”

For around seven months, Oppong said, the church on Weston Road has cared for waves of African arrivals in makeshift conditions, occasionally having some sleep on buses when no other shelter is available.

Church supporters also built three tiny homes on the property last year to house refugees.

Speaking at a Committee of the Whole meeting, Oppong asked that the region extend municipal services and a York Region Transit bus route to the property.

The region last fall dedicated $4.3 million in emergency funds for African refugees and asylum seekers and has housed many in Vaughan and Markham hotel rooms.

“We are making shelter available for everybody who wants that shelter,” Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said.

Oppong, a Keswick resident, called the $4.3 million “a scratch on the surface.”

Miracle Arena’s senior pastor, Prophet Dr. Martin Kofi Danso, said the treatment African refugees receive in hotels “is bad” and called on the region to work with the churches providing shelter and support.

“We are human beings. We have feelings,” Danso said.

“Who stands for us,” he asked at one point, looking around the council chamber.

“York Region is full of discrimination. It’s sad.”

Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca said allegations racism plays a part in how African refugees have been treated in York are unfounded.

The region and municipalities are doing their best, he argued, providing enough rooms for “most, if not all” the asylum seekers at Miracle Arena while making sure they are safe, protected and getting the same treatment as other refugees.

The Vaughan mayor said he met representatives of Miracle Arena and ANCHOR Canada, a local anti-racism group, in December and told them having people living on a site that isn’t suitable or safe for housing is in nobody’s interest.

“We have to stop this charade” of believing Miracle Arena will be a housing compound, Del Duca said.

Danso, however, responded if regional politicians think the shelter is going to move, “it’s never happening ‘till its kingdom come.”