More than half of Ottawa’s shelters are now occupied by asylum seekers, and numbers are going up.
This represents a significant uptick since 2020, when asylum seekers only took up 10 to 15 per cent of shelters.
Now, about 750 refugee claimants are housed in Ottawa’s shelter system, including community spaces.
Amid the surge, the city is holding public information sessions, detailing how they plan to deal with the issue. The current plan is to construct a large, tent-like structure at the Nepean Sportsplex area.
Originally, this meant the “underutilized football field” would be wiped out, but after backlash, the City now says they will construct it elsewhere so the field stays intact.
On Wednesday night at one of these sessions, drama unfolded when a man stormed the stage wearing a t-shirt that read “No Tent in Ottawa.” He was arrested and charged with trespassing.
Meanwhile, residents are being shamed for having adverse reactions to the city’s plan to build refugee tents in their city. Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine, who represents the area covering the Nepean Spotsplex, is accusing disgruntled tax paying residents of letting “fear get in the way of compassion.”
Liberals created the mess
The Trudeau Liberals are largely responsible for the mess that cities such as Ottawa find themselves in. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s infamous 2017 “refugees are welcome” social media post led to a surge in illegal crossings and disingenuous applications.
Now, StatsCan data reveals that 250,000 asylum claimants are in Canada and waiting for the Canadian government to make a decision about their status – and the government is taking 44 months on average to process their claims.
As reported by the National Post, the feds allocate roughly $224 per day (or $81,760 each per year) for every asylum seeker to receive housing, food, and “essential items.”
Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced in June that he might start buying up hotels to house the surge of claimants.
