Community members in Cornwall, Ont. want 60 more days for asylum seekers to find housing
CORNWALL, ONT. -
Community agencies in Cornwall, Ont. are asking the federal government to give asylum seekers more time to find housing, after Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship Canada (IRCC) decided not to renew its contract with the Dev Hotel.
A few weeks ago, refugees were informed about the news by the IRCC and told they needed to move out by the end of the month.
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Since 2022, the Dev Hotel and Conference Centre has been providing temporary housing for refugees, while also giving English lessons and an on-site school for children.
"They are part of our community and they participate," said Sen. Bernadette Clement, the former Mayor of Cornwall.
"Those asylum seekers have leaned into a community integration process, right? They have developed relationships with the community. They volunteer, they have jobs."
According to Clement, more than 200 of the asylum seekers work in Cornwall, some full-time and some part-time.
"They have become part of the fabric here in Cornwall," she continued.
Part of the reason behind the request to the federal government was to give them more time to find housing in Cornwall, as opposed to somewhere else.
"When we came, we were supported by the IRCC. They supported us with lessons in the English language, French language," a refugee from Sudan named Mohammed told CTV News. "We have to start our next step in Canada."
IRCC says it is working with the city of Cornwall to ensure none of the refugees end up homeless.
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