Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Toronto: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Mayor John Tory today amid a dispute over who should foot the bill for refugee claimants who have overwhelmed the city’s shelter system.
Tory has previously said that 10 new refugee claimants are being added to Toronto’s shelter system every day and that the group is on pace to make up 50 per cent of all shelter occupants by November.
In response to the influx, the city opened up temporary shelter spaces at Centennial College and Humber college to accommodate hundreds of refugees this past spring but those spaces will have to be closed in August prior to the resumption of classes, raising questions about where those people will be placed.
Meanwhile, the new Progressive Conservative government at Queen’s Park has indicated an unwillingness to provide assistance on the file. On Thursday, the province withdrew its cooperation with Ottawa on the resettlement of asylum seekers, seemingly bringing an end to a previous agreement wherein Ontario committed to helping resettle some refugees.
In confirming the move on Thursday, a spokesperson for the provincial government blamed the federal government for creating a “mess” by encouraging “illegal border crossers” to come into the country and said that they should pay 100 per cent of the costs of accommodating those people.
Trudeau, however, suggested that Premier Doug Ford may not fully understand Canada’s international obligations to asylum seekers following a meeting with him at Queen’s Park on Thursday.
“I have talked to a lot of people who ask me – and it is a reasonable question – ‘Why don’t we just stop them at the border, why don’t we prevent them from coming over’ and the answer is a combination of the charter, international obligations and quite frankly due process,” Trudeau told CP24 during a one-on-one interview prior to his meeting with Tory. “It is a real question people are asking and my focus is always on reassuring them and saying ‘Look every single person who crosses the boarder whether regularly or irregularly gets processed in full accordance with our immigration measures. There are police checks, there is a file started and we make a determination whether they are a refugee or not. If they are not they will be sent home.”
During a photo-op prior to his meeting with Tory, Trudeau thanked the mayor for his leadership on the resettlement of asylum seekers and promised to ensure that the federal government is “a good, strong and present” partner” in those efforts.
He said that it is important to determine a “path forward” that “demonstrates the values that define Canadians and our communities” while also “ensuring that the rules are followed and that our immigration systems remains something that Canadians can have confidence in.”
“It is one of our great assets we have in the world, that our population is positive toward immigration and refugees and we need to keep that,” he said.
5,500 asylum seekers have entered Ontario
At a news conference on Friday morning, Ontario’s Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Lisa MacLeod said that while her government will continue to offer various supports to refugees, they cannot and will not shoulder the burden of accommodating thousands of asylum seekers.
She said that since 2017, 28,000 asylum seekers have entered Canada at Quebec-U.S. border and 5,500 of them have ended up in Ontario.
“What I am saying to the federal government is you have resources and you have assets in the City of Toronto and you are going to need to use those. We are at capacity now,” she said. “We are going to be a compassionate government but there is a capacity issue around that.”
MacLeod told reporters that the PC government has provided federal officials with a list of facilities they own in Toronto that could be used to accommodate asylum seekers, though she refused to name those locations.
She described the Aug. 9 closure of the temporary shelters at Humber College and Centennial College as a “looming crisis,” one that the federal government must take responsibility for.
“This is not acceptable,” she said.
Immigration Minister says due process must be given
Though the PC government has categorized asylum seekers as “illegal border crossers,” they are not actually breaking any laws provided that they cross the border at a valid port of entry and declare asylum.
Speaking with CP24 earlier on Friday morning, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Ahmed Hussen said that it is important to remember that Canada has a legal obligation to provide due process to asylum seekers.
“We have invested in faster processing of refugee claims, we have invested in reimbursing provinces for the additional costs but make no mistake that we have legal obligations. The law demands of us that when somebody is on Canadian soil and they claim asylum we have to give them due process,” he said. “That is the law. It is not a choice, it is not something you can opt out of.”
Tory has said that the cost of providing shelter and social supports to the refugee claimants will reach $64.5 million by the end of 2018 and has called on Ottawa to reimburse the city for that money.
The feds have so far committed about $11 million in funding to the provincial government for the resettlement of asylum seekers and on Friday Hussen said that he expects Toronto to receive “most” of that allotment.
“Make no mistake we will be there for Toronto. But we also need Ontario to be part of that discussion. Canadians expect us to work together at all levels of government,” he said.
According to Tory’s office, the main topics of discussion during his meeting with Trudeau were crime, housing, immigration and transit.
