Asylum seekers arriving from Quebec are occupying 951 hotel rooms in Niagara Falls, and their number could double in the coming weeks. The municipality’s mayor, Jim Diodati, says his city will need these rooms for the high tourist season, which begins at the end of May, but Ottawa does not yet have a timetable for releasing them.
Niagara Falls is the Ontario city that has received the most asylum seekers sent from Quebec since July. Of the 5,557 migrants transferred to Ontario, 2,841 were relocated there. According to Mayor Diodati — who says he received different information from federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser than that provided by the department to Duty — 1,400 rooms in 11 hotels are occupied by these asylum seekers.
The hotel industry in Niagara Falls has been solicited by Ottawa due, among other things, to the large number of rooms available at this time of year. Many hotels are in fact not very busy during the off season, and many are delighted with this agreement.
“Those with whom the federal government has rented rooms are happy, since these are guaranteed revenues,” notes Mayor Diodati, but the industry wants these rooms to be available for the millions of tourists who visit the region each summer. Their occupation by migrants relocated by Ottawa increases the prices of other rooms and thereby reduces tourist spending in restaurants and attractions in the city, underlines the elected official. Jim Diodati says he broached the issue during a video call with Minister Fraser on Saturday morning. “He listened to my concerns,” notes the mayor on the phone.
The latter hopes above all that we do not find a simple last-minute solution. “I don’t want us to be reactive. I told him: “You can’t hurt the goose that lays the golden egg. Some 40,000 residents of the region rely on tourism to feed their families.” »
By email, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says it is working to obtain rooms outside Quebec and Ontario, as well as signing contracts for transportation and security services, in particular. It is the results of this research and the number of asylum seekers that “will determine how soon we can free up hotel rooms in Niagara Falls”, it is reported.
Crucial industry
Tourists spend nearly two billion dollars annually in the Niagara region. And about half of Niagara Falls’ tourism revenue comes from overseas visitors, a market strangled by border closures during the pandemic. The director of the local chamber of commerce, Dolores Fabiano, is also hopeful that 2023 will bring back the pre-pandemic figures. “We need these hotel rooms to respond – we hope – to the return of tourists this summer,” she said.
What will happen between now and the peak tourist season is ‘the million dollar question’, illustrates Mme Fabiano. The ideal scenario, she says, would see asylum seekers leave the hotel and integrate into the local community.
But it is already difficult to find a roof in the region, raises the mayor Diodati, who does not indicate what is the scenario envisaged to free the rooms. “We are at a tipping point in terms of housing and affordability. So what has an impact on that will also have an impact on the community. »
“Minister Fraser told me that we will reach the peak of transfers this week and that they will then decrease,” says Jim Diodati. Ottawa is preparing to send asylum seekers to other parts of the country, including the Atlantic provinces, Sean Fraser reportedly told him. The federal Minister of Immigration wants to have a “Team Canada” approach, says the mayor of Niagara Falls over the phone.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.