Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller takes part in a news conference in Ottawa, on Jan. 29.BLAIR GABLE/Reuters
Ottawa is funnelling an extra $360-million to provinces and municipalities to house the rising number of asylum seekers, with $100-million of the funds earmarked for Quebec.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced the extra funds Wednesday, with another $50-million for Quebec from a previous round of funding unveiled last year, saying the money would ensure people fleeing persecution have shelter, including from the winter cold.
Provinces and cities have been calling for increased financial aid to help with the influx. But the Ontario government said it was disappointed by the level of funding announced, and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said it was not enough and accused Ottawa of shortchanging Quebec.
Mr. Miller said that although housing and support for asylum seekers are the responsibility of provinces and municipalities, the federal government was stepping in to help with the costs of the rising number of claims.
He said Ottawa is currently footing the bill for 4,000 hotel rooms to house around 7,300 asylum seekers, many of whom have been transferred from provincial shelters and churches. But putting up refugee claimants in hotels is a costly “stopgap,” he said, and there are “better models” for housing people seeking asylum in Canada.
The minister unveiled the additional $362.4-million for the Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP) in the 2023-24 fiscal year, saying that $100-million would go to Quebec.
The funding, to address a surge in demand from refugee claimants for places in homeless shelters, follows $212-million last summer from Ottawa through IHAP. Bahoz Dara Aziz, a spokeswoman for Mr. Miller, said Wednesday that $50-million of this funding would go to Quebec, amounting to $150-million of “new money” for the province.
But Mr. Blanchet said Wednesday that the government of Quebec had assumed $460-million in expenses. Speaking to reporters in Parliament, he accused the federal government of behaving like an “unreliable payer” by refusing to foot the full bill.
In January, Quebec Premier François Legault wrote to the Prime Minister warning the province was close to the breaking point over the number of people claiming asylum. He said Quebec had received around 60,000 new claimants last year, putting significant pressure on housing and other services.
The closing of Quebec’s unofficial Roxham Road border crossing from the United States last year temporarily stemmed the number of asylum claims in the province, but many are now arriving at airports.
In the first 11 months of last year, 128,690 people made asylum claims in Canada, more than double the number in the prepandemic year of 2019.
Asylum seekers – turned away from homeless shelters – camped on Toronto’s streets last year.
Paul Calandra, Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and David Piccini, Ontario’s Immigration Minister, said in an e-mailed statement they were “disappointed.”
“The funding announced by the federal government today doesn’t cover the needs of Toronto, let alone all the other municipalities facing the same pressures due to the increased numbers of asylum claimants.”
Mr. Miller declined to say what share Toronto stood to gain, saying the sum would be substantial and announced within days.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has called on Ottawa to come up with long-term solutions for refugee claimants and said last year’s $97-million in federal funding was not enough to deal with a shortage in shelter spaces.
Ms. Chow, who was set to unveil her version of the city’s proposed budget on Thursday, welcomed word that a cheque for refugee shelter costs was imminent, in a brief e-mailed statement.
“I’m encouraged by the announcement and look forward to working with Minister Miller on the funds for Toronto,” Ms. Chow said.
In the city’s proposed budget unveiled by municipal staff in early January, Toronto was set to demand at least $250-million from Ottawa to cover the rising cost of the thousands of asylum seekers in its strained emergency homeless shelter system.
If the money didn’t come, the city planned to add six percentage points to its proposed 10.5-per-cent property tax hike.
On Wednesday, Arianne Robinson, spokeswoman for Ms. Chow, said the mayor’s budget will shave a percentage point off the originally proposed increase to make it 9.5 per cent.
With a report from Laura Stone