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His name is Mohammed and we meet him walking along the hotel-lined boulevard on the tourist strip in Niagara Falls, Ont.
The February wind was biting and he was shivering in a jacket more suitable for warmer weather.
Mohammed said he was too scared to reveal any other details about himself except that he had to flee Chad, in central Africa, fearing for his life.
He is one of them thousands of people seek asylum bused here shortly after arriving in Quebec from New York at the so-called irregular border crossing Roxham Road.
Mohammed had hoped to stay in Quebec because he doesn’t speak English, but said he was given no choice when he took the bus here.
Then he said, speaking in French, “I don’t speak English and here in Niagara it is very difficult for me to communicate.”
Mohammed is staying in one of the nearly 2,000 hotel rooms reserved in Niagara Falls by Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to provide temporary housing for migrants arriving via Roxham Road and who are currently being diverted out of the province.
It left people in a strange limbo, he said, adding in French, “I sleep, I wake up, I eat.”
He said during the two weeks he was here, no one told him what to expect.
Mohammed’s story describes the scramble to move people like him out of Quebec since the province sounded the alarm saying it could not absorb more asylum seekers.
‘You can’t just drop him’
An estimated 39,000 people seeking protection will come to Quebec from Roxham Road in 2022. According to the latest federal government statistics, another 4,875 people crossed Roxham Road last January.
Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said he is shocked by the number of hotel rooms the federal government continues to reserve for asylum seekers.
“From 87 rooms to 300 rooms, then to 687 rooms,” said Diodati. “Then we went to 1,500 rooms, then they said 1,700 and the next 2,000. So we said well where are we going with this. I mean how big will this get?”
According to IRCC, most immigrants stay in federally funded hotel rooms for an average of 60 days and are also provided with food while being assessed for a work permit.
The work permit process has been expedited, IRCC said, to allow migrants to enter the Canadian labor market faster and provide for themselves while awaiting a decision on their asylum claim.
However, administering the social services of asylum seekers who are entitled to when they try to settle has generally fallen to the city at a cost of approximately $5 million, Diodati said, money the city wants the federal government to compensate for.
In a statement provided to the CBC, IRCC said the hotel asylum seekers are housed temporarily until claimants “can move to long-term housing in the community.”
But Diodati says more affordable housing in the city doesn’t exist.
Niagara Falls recently declared a state of emergency due to the homelessness and opioid crisis and Diodati said once the tourism season starts, hotel rooms will be in demand, as will much-needed revenue for the city.
And he said he wasn’t sure where the asylum seekers were going.
“We’re saying we have to be part of this discussion. You can’t just put people dead and leave it for us to deal with and and we have to deal with the impact,” said Diodati. “We have our own community problems, this adds to the problems we already have.”
Call for more federal support
The city is demanding the federal government provide more support, a call for help echoed by community leaders in the area.
Sarah Ludberg is the senior director of people and programs at Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS) Niagara. She said newcomer or refugee status is just one of the issues facing young people and why the group is trying to do outreach to assess the needs of newcomers.
Ludberg said he wants to offer one-on-one mentoring to hundreds of young people now in the community, but already has a waiting list of 300 people.
He said federal support would go a long way.
“We’ve been struggling to recover post-pandemic,” he said.
“Agencies like ours whose fundraising has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. So for now adding newcomers who also want to support is a concern for us as an organization because we want to provide a mentor to every child and young person who is looking for one.”
Beyond mentoring, BBBS tries to make connections with all newcomers, Ludberg said.
“If they’re struggling with food security, we’ll connect them with a local food bank. If they’re struggling with mental health challenges, we can make a referral.”
Ludberg said the local Salvation Army also provides asylum seekers with vouchers to shop for free at the consignment shop run by BBBS. The store is stocked with donations, including parkas and warm pajamas, necessities for many newcomers to cope with the harsh Canadian winters. The vouchers are meant to give people a sense of autonomy and dignity, Ludberg said.
But communication is still a challenge.
Mohammed said he had not heard of any community support being offered. Apart from applying for social assistance with city officials visiting nearby hotels, she said no one told her where to turn and finding herself was difficult because she didn’t speak the language.
‘It wasn’t planned, but it’s good for me’
Arriving in Ontario was also very difficult for Espérantine Désardouin. He and his family of five were traveling by bus to Cornwall after crossing Roxham Road last August.
Désardouin says he must avoid violence in Haiti. “It is very difficult to leave my country. My whole life, my work and my friends,” he said. “But we have to stay alive …. So you have to make a decision and the best thing is to leave the country and come to Canada.”
The family had hoped to start a new life in Quebec’s large Haitian community, but being sent to Cornwall was better than Désardouin could have imagined. He has improved his English and Cornwall’s francophone community has embraced him. Désardouin, who worked as an aid worker in Haiti, has also found work with local community groups that help newcomers settle. His wife also rents and is building a life here.
She said she is grateful to be working, especially in a job that involves helping people like her.
“This is very important to me because I received a lot from the community. I have to give back. I can say that I came here, this was not planned, but this is good for me. We feel that we have a good life. .”
The community group Désardouin works with, L’Association des communautés francophones de l’Ontario (ACFO) has helped connect hundreds of newcomer families enrolling their children in school, opening bank accounts and navigating paperwork for work permits.
It also tries to match newcomers to local employers, said Sonia Behilil, director of operations for ACFO. It’s a hyper-local approach they say and it’s important to avoid hurting newbies.
“I think it’s important to have a community component, community agencies have the necessary perspective to provide help and support when needed,” he said, adding that he worries about helping everyone. “We know that resources are limited.”
Lack of readiness
The lack of preparedness and lack of notice was too much, said Cornwall Mayor Justin Towndale.
“We don’t know when the bus is coming, we’re not sure what country these people are from, what language they’re speaking,” Towndale said.
Since Quebec began rejecting its majority, 1,400 asylum seekers have come through the eastern Ontario town of Cornwall. Eight hundred asylum seekers are still in two hotels protected by the federal government.
“It adds another layer of unpredictability. There are many agencies that want to help, but they don’t know how to help yet,” said Towndale. “And he was caught by people who showed up at his door.”
City and community groups recently met with federal immigration officials demanding better communication and support moving forward.
“Cornwall wants to help. We are a very generous community,” said Towndale. “If our resources are cut and we can no longer contribute, then it is the asylum seekers who suffer in the end.”
In a statement provided to the CBC, IRCC said that to ease pressure on one city, “a pan-Canadian approach is essential,” and said it is “actively working with other provinces and municipalities” to find accommodation, training and temporary resettlement programs. .
Halifax has received a small group of asylum seekers, IRCC said, adding that “officials from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland have expressed an interest in assisting.”
Désardouin hopes more like he will find a place in Canada.
Six months after the bus to Cornwall from Roxham Road, he and his family can now rent a townhouse filled with donations from the community.
As he stood in the living room, the walls lined with family photos, Désardouin fought back tears as he said that for the first time in a long time, the future felt safer and brighter.
“I feel great, I feel peace in my heart. I thank the community. I thank Canada because now I am at peace.”
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