Toronto mayor Olivia Chow’s office scrambles to enact refugee policy passed months ago

One of Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow‘s first acts in her new role was to reverse a city policy which had drawn widespread condemnation over the treatment of those fleeing conditions in their homelands, but months after the motion was passed, her office had to scramble to get staff to actually act on the motion passed by council months earlier.

At council’s July meeting, a motion put forward by Chow and passed by council directed city staff to end the policy of referring asylum seekers to refugee-specific locations and to grant access to shelters regardless of immigration status. This week, it emerged the intake referral system hadn’t enacted the changes.

“I have spoken with City Staff and they will now ensure refugees can access available emergency shelter space through central intake, as per my motion at council,” said Chow in an email. But Chow warned the system remains stretched thin and the federal government needs to provide more money.

The mayor’s office said there are 3,418 refugee claimants in the shelter system, including 1,418 in the non-refugee shelter system. In June, the number staying in non-refugee shelters was 899, and the rate at which people arriving doesn’t appear to be slowing. Matthew Bingley has the details