Toronto’s move to exclude some refugee claimants from the city shelter system in late 2022 “amounted to Anti-Black racism,” ombudsman Kwame Addo wrote in a recent report that sparked a rare disagreement between his office and city manager Paul Johnson.
Addo was clear that he wasn’t accusing any staff of intentionally discriminating against the refugee claimants.
“But … it is the effect or consequence of their actions or policies that matter, not the intent,” he wrote.
City manager Paul Johnson took exception to some of Addo’s findings in a written response and said he would not implement the recommendations unless directed to by council.
But at a Thursday morning press conference, he tried to downplay the disagreement.
“I happen to disagree with some of the findings in this report and the need for us to action those recommendations,” Johnson told reporters at city hall.
In the report, Addo said the city needs to do a better job coordinating shelter-related decisions between departments and with refugee service organizations. He also said it needs to bolster anti-racism training.
Johnson said he didn’t agree with those findings “for the simple reason that we do that already.”
Formally “accepting” the recommendations would have also required staff to write reports back to the ombudsman on steps taken.
“In talking to our shelter staff and looking at what they are doing on a daily basis, it did not appear to be something that we needed to take on in that formal way,” Johnson said.
Refugees were excluded from city shelter system two years ago
In November 2022, the city decided to stop allowing refugee claimants into the base shelter system, which is historically reserved for Toronto’s homeless population. The city usually operates separate shelters for refugee claimants where they can access more specialized services.
That decision was not announced publicly until May 2023.
When the federal government eased border restrictions post-pandemic, refugee claimants began accessing Toronto shelter beds at a higher rate than normal.
In 2016, an average of 459 refugee claimants used a shelter bed every night. In March 2022, it had grown to 1,176. By August 2022, an average of 1,897 refugee claimants were using shelter beds nightly.
When the city went public with its decision, it started referring claimants to the federal government because the system was overwhelmed and Queen’s Park and Ottawa hadn’t stepped up with more funding.
That led to refugee claimants sleeping on the street. Some were resettled by largely Black-led churches and community groups.
Staff interviewed for the ombudsman report admitted that in some instances refugee claimants were turned away when there was shelter space available.
At the press conference, Johnson said that was because the city needed to ensure encampment residents could be rehoused in shelters.
“We have beds that are available for the teams that are out on the street doing work in encampments. So theoretically, in one moment is a bed available for someone else? Yes. But because we are working with people in encampments, we want to be assured that we can move them to encampments, which may not be instantaneous,” he said.
“This is the challenge of running a shelter system.”
Move to reverse shelter divide initially stalled
Councillors passed a motion reversing the decision to exclude refugees from general shelter spots in July 2023 shortly after Olivia Chow was elected mayor.
But two months later, the policy was still in effect. It was officially reversed when the Toronto Star reported that refugees were still sleeping on the street.
“With this in the media I will now instruct staff to change their procedures which will no doubt bring many more refugee claimants into the shelter system,” Johnson wrote in a Sept. 8, 2023 email to the deputy city manager contained in the report.
In an interview with the ombudsman, Johnson said he didn’t realize the motion equated to firm direction from council.
“We did not interpret this motion. Nobody talked to us about the content of this member’s motion. It came to the floor of council. We did not recognize, right or wrongly, that this was a signal to reverse our operational changes,” he said.
Mayor Chow said she welcomes the report.
“This is the right thing to do – no one should be sleeping on the street in Toronto. However, for many in Toronto, we know our shelter system is full. I look forward to reading the Ombudsman’s report – this will need a thoughtful discussion at council – transparency is vital in Toronto’s shelter system,” she said.
She also used the report to chastise the federal and provincial governments for shortchanging Toronto’s shelter system.
“This also needs to be a wake-up call for all orders of government. Funding for refugees needs to reflect the number of refugees seeking asylum in Toronto – currently funding is capped annually. Refugees have different needs than Toronto’s homeless population, our services need to reflect this reality and key to this is stable, predictable funding.”
