Agencies working with refugee claimants in Waterloo region say more supports needed, call for government help

Local agencies working with refugee claimants in Waterloo region say their clients are in urgent need of more assistance and call for all levels of government work together to co-ordinate and provide better supports. 

Last week, the federal government announced $212 million in funding to help Toronto, Ottawa and the Province of Quebec to help them fund an interim housing assistance program to help with an influx of asylum seekers.

But it's not just a big city problem, local groups say.

"What we saw in Toronto was absolutely devastating, but we've seen it building," Lucia Harrison, CEO of the K-W Multicultural Centre, told CBC News.

"We need the federal government, the provincial government and municipalities to come together on this and look at not only the situation today, but longer-term strategies."

The K-W Multicultural Centre and Compass Refugee Centre are the only agencies in Waterloo region that specifically work with refugee claimants, or asylum seekers, to provide services and supports like housing, employment and also help with refugee hearing preparations and permanent residency.

Last week, the Ontario Big City Mayors caucus, which includes mayors from Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, released a statement calling for more financial funds form the federal government so that municipalities and agencies can help asylum seekers as they settle.

The statement came after dozens of refugees claimants in Toronto slept outside because of a lack of housing and adequate shelter space in the city.

Harrison, who is also co-chair of the region's refugee task force, said the crisis in Toronto hasn't happened in Waterloo region yet, but as more refugee claimants come to the region, she fears it may happen soon.

She said there have been times when some refugee claimants have had to access the region's shelter system or have had to couch surf for a period of time before they're able to finding housing.

"Housing is a crisis for everyone, so finding accommodations is difficult, processes are difficult [and] finding all the appropriate services, which at the moment most are centralized in Toronto," she said.

"We're not there yet, but ... we're not too far from having people sleeping on the streets here who are refugee claimants."

Backlogged system

Shelley Campagnola, executive director of Compass Refugee says the number of refugee claimants coming to the region range from 60 to 70 on average every month and they're coming from 38 countries. Harrison said that number has gone up to 80 people at times.

Harrison and Campagnola said their organizations are seeing refugee claimants come from areas like Mexico lately, landing on direct flights at the Region of Waterloo International Airport.

Campagnola added refugee claimants coming to Canada can wait up to a year for the government to acknowledge their claim. In that time she says, refugee claimants don't have access to work, child care benefits or access health care, which means they can't house or support themselves.

Once they're in the system, it can take up to four years to be granted refugee status, she said.

"If they're granted that, they can apply for permanent residency status and it's at that point that that they become eligible for many of the services that would help them in the day to day, so what we have is a completely backlogged system," Campagnola said.

Refugee claimants also don't have access to the same supports as government assisted refugees. Harrison said her organization, for example, receives funding from Immigration Refugee Citizenship Canada to provide services to government-assisted refugees, but they can't use that money to support asylum seekers.

"We need to find other funding to provide services to claimants and that's where we in the settlement sector are seeing as so unfair," she said. "A claimant has all the same needs as a government-assisted refugee coming into the community." 

The province does provide some funding to K-W Multicultural for that work, but they need to split it to also serve migrant workers and international students, Harrison said.

Campagnola said her organization receives no funding form any level of government and solely rely on fundraising and donations.

Cities need to be at the table

Part of the Ontario Big City Mayors statement on July 18 also called for the federal government to consult with municipalities. A co-ordinated approach is needed to make sure new Canadians get the supports they need, Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said.

"Really what we're looking for is two things: one, is the funding to support new Canadians, whether they are coming in as immigrants or refugees and number two, sitting down at the table with us so that we can co-ordinate the overall numbers coming into a community and making sure the necessary supports and resources are there to meet their needs," Vrbanovic told CBC News.

Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe said having municipalities at the table when the federal governments is making immigration targets helps the city plan their services and gives staff a sense of what to expect.

McCabe added the federal government also needs to accelerate work permits for refugees so they can access work in a timely manner.

"When immigrants and refugees come, they want to work, they want to integrate," she said. "That's something the federal government needs to address as well."

The shortage of shelter beds in Toronto for refugee claimants has prompted calls to speed up work permits from other advocates and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Campagnola said the federal government needs to properly resource "the whole refugee claim system." She says one of the main challenges is that the system caps how many people can be completely process each year, which guarantees a backlog, she said. 

In a statement to CBC News, Kitchener-Conestoga MP Tim Louis said the federal government "recognizes there is a need for all levels of government to work together on solutions to address the current and future needs for asylum claimants and refugees who chose to make Waterloo region their home."

"My office is in contact with local settlement organizations discussing the challenges they are facing, and the supports they need," Louis said.

"We continue to advocate for more support for the region to assist with the important work settlement services do every day in our community."