Ontario’s Niagara region is warning it is $5.1-million short in money from the provincial government to adequately respond to an influx of asylum seekers.
Without it, officials say the region could be forced to reduce the amount and frequency of discretionary benefits provided to people in need through the Ontario Works program, including rent support to transition families out of hotels and into permanent housing.
The region wrote a letter last month to the province’s Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services asking for $5.9-million to fund 15 temporary full-time staff, interpreter services and more benefits for clients in order to respond to new pressures. Instead, the province earmarked $857,250 in its recent budget, which the region says will go toward hiring 12 temporary staff.
The province did not respond to questions from The Globe and Mail Tuesday on why the full amount requested wasn’t provided.
The increased demand on the program is a result of a surge of asylum seekers being sheltered in the region, mostly in the international border city of Niagara Falls, since last July. A majority of the residents have been transferred by the federal government to the tourist town from Quebec, after crossing at Roxham Road.
The Niagara region has received 5,254 asylum seeker claimants, with 2,766 arriving since the beginning of 2023. They are being housed in more than 2,000 hotel rooms, which has resulted in hotel capacity concerns as tourism season looms.
People who have been transferred to Niagara through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada are eligible for income support from the province’s Ontario Works program. But the region’s community services commissioner, Adrienne Jugley, told a council committee Tuesday that the increased demand has spurred workload challenges and forced the region to redirect staff and defer certain initiatives.
Applications for the Ontario Works program in Niagara are projected to increase by a total of 22 per cent by this month compared with the end of 2021.
“The caseload has grown exponentially, particularly since the beginning of this year,” Ms. Jugley said. “It has meant that we have had to defer certain services and activities to respond to the intake role. Obviously our most important service is to respond to people who are in immediate need of funds.”
Although Niagara did not receive the funding it requested from the province, Ms. Jugley said the region is paying close attention to the impact of recent federal rule changes for irregular border crossings from the United States. Late last month, the two countries renegotiated the Safe Third Country Agreement, allowing for asylum seekers to be turned away no matter where they cross on the border.
Previously, migrants crossing at unofficial points, such as Roxham Road into Quebec, were allowed to make refugee claims. In 2022, almost 40,000 people crossed into Canada at unofficial border points.
Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati also raised concerns at Tuesday’s committee meeting about reports his office has received concerning homeless people in the city being evicted from hotels to make room for asylum seekers.
“It is in fact a concern when residents and constituents reach out to our office to explain that they’re the unintended negative outcome of a good idea gone sideways,” he said.
Mr. Diodati previously told The Globe and Mail that he hasn’t been told by the federal government how long the hotel rooms have been booked for as part of its program.
The region is also hopeful that Ottawa fulfills its commitment to “burden sharing,” Ms. Jugley said, including a plan to move some of the asylum seekers to other communities across the country. Ms. Jugley said she expects that more information could be shared about this plan in May or June.