City council says without additional supports, Windsor cant accept more asylum claimants

The City of Windsor is full, as far as being able to support additional asylum seekers following local developments since last June.

At their regular meeting on Monday evening, city council voted unanimously in favour of accepting a report put together by City Administration updating the situation which also included a pair of recommendations.

It was recommended that council send a letter to Immigration, Refugees, Citizenship Canada stating Windsor doesn't have the capacity or resources to support additional asylum claimants beyond those estimated based on the current number of secured temporary accommodations, and that a letter be sent to the appropriate senior levels of government, like the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, to have them identify and resource a local lead settlement agency to coordinate a response in Windsor and Essex County

During the meeting, it was noted that 1,100 individuals have come into the city since last June, but 250 of so have left for other places like Toronto, so roughly 850 individuals remain.

Mayor Drew Dilkens mentioned that the federal government will limit the number of Windsor hotel rooms used to house asylum seekers at 500, as part of a discussion he had with Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Sean Fraser in early March.

Officials stated that hotels are almost at capacity but Mike Morency, the Executive Director of Matthew House Refugee Welcome Centre, says the bigger issue to look at is the sheer increase in the number of people seeking asylum.

"The number of people entering Canada seeking safety and a fresh start as asylum seekers, as refugee claimants, is going up by 44 per cent from pre-COVID levels. And it is up massively from our 15 year national average pre-2017."

Morency was asked about Matthew House's capacity to handle more asylum seekers, and he said while they will do everything in their power to ensure positive outcomes it is a big challenge.

"If between us and the IRCC funded agencies, if we had 10 fully trained staff, it wouldn't be enough to provide that same level of support as we provide through our regular program," he said.

Morency says they've also invested in a computer lab and a full time staff person for the hotel program using donor dollars, and are looking at an additional shelter site as well due to the large number of refugee claimants entering the country.

Commissioner of Human & Health Services Andrew Daher says it wasn't an easy report to bring forward due to the welcoming nature of Windsor, but it had to be noted that without additional resources the city cannot handle the numbers.

"We wanted to bring this forward in front of council so they're aware, and let the federal government know that at this point without additional resources and supports from the feds and the provincial government we have to kind of put a little bit of a halt on this. And quite frankly the work that we've done, and the advocacy that we've done as a result of this, we're already hearing that they're moving these individuals to other cities," Daher said.

At the last meeting of the Community Services Standing Committee, members voted to move forward with a push to get additional funding and supports to assist asylum seekers coming to the city.

Daher says its the supports specifically within the City of Windsor that they're looking for, as additional staff are needed in order to support these individuals and get them acclimated into the community.

"So whether it's Ontario Works, the EarlyON program, and any other services that deal with employment. But it's also the community supports, we have some great settlement agencies that are around this table and we work with very, very closely. Also helping them as well, and advocating for them, to get additional support."

Ward 9 councillor Kieran McKenzie put forward a change to the administrative recommendation before it passed, which added a clause stating that City staff correspond with local MPs to articulate the challenges of the municipality as it relates to asylum claimants, and to request advocacy or installation of challenges with respect to legislative support.