Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will push more than a hundred asylum seekers housed in Niagara Falls hotels at government expense towards the exit door, we have learned The duty. Others will be moved from Friday to new accommodation in the city, which remains unknown.
This relocation to different hotels is recurring before the start of the tourist season, according to community organizations. Pastor Wally Hong, who helps many of the city’s refugees, even suspects that the maneuver was brought forward because of the eclipse planned for April 8, which should attract thousands of curious people to the Ontario municipality.
“What’s happening is that the tourist season is coming. […] And there’s something else, this time, which is that some hotels are asking the government to see if they can move forward a little [la sortie des demandeurs d’asile] because of the eclipse,” says Mr. Hong. “It’s not necessarily planned, but it’s added pressure. » At the time these lines were written, The duty could not confirm the motivations of the establishments.
The price of hotel rooms for one night from April 7 to 8 in Niagara Falls, where the eclipse will be total, has increased from around a hundred dollars to more than $1,000.
For the first time, IRCC also plans to evict 134 asylum seekers in mid-April, according to community organizers. Until then, they will have to find their own accommodation. Housed and fed at government expense for several months, they all obtained the status of “protected person”, according to what Ottawa indicated to community organizations. In the event that the search for housing is unsuccessful, in a context of soaring rents, IRCC would not put these people on the street, they believe.
The duty attempted to speak with an IRCC agent whose office is located within one of the four hotels where asylum seekers are housed. We were immediately escorted out.
About 2,000 asylum seekers are now housed in Niagara Falls hotels, according to Bonaventure Otshudi, the director of newcomer services at the Hamilton/Niagara Community Health Centre.
Further details will follow.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.