Hundreds protest against proposed tents for asylum seekers

Article content

Hundreds of residents gathered to protest this weekend at two locations where the City of Ottawa plans to place temporary housing for refugees.

This past week, the city announced two locations to build tent-like structures to house asylum seekers and newcomers for 30 to 90 days.

The city originally planned to put the structures in Barrhaven, but, after community pushback there, said one shelter would now be located near the Nepean Sportsplex and the other near the Eagleson Road Park and Ride in Kanata.

Article content

Speaking to a crowd of approximately 250 at the Nepean Sportsplex on Sunday afternoon, Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod took aim at city hall, calling it “at best inept, at worst Orwellian,” and accusing city councillors of stifling debate among residents and pushing a hidden agenda.

“It’s less about tents, and more about public accountability that has failed people of Nepean,” she said. “This has less to do with the structures, and who might live in the structures, than it does about listening and respecting the taxpayers of the City of Ottawa.”

She added there’s “no trust anymore” between city hall and Nepean residents.

The day prior, Kanata residents gathered to protest at the park-and-ride, holding up signs saying “Transparency, not tents,” waved Canadian flags and chanted, “Our community, our choice.”

Krista McIntyre may be relatively new to Kanata, but said she had seen a similar situation play out in London, Ont., which took in refugees after an influx overwhelmed Toronto’s homeless support system.

The sudden addition of newcomers overwhelmed London’s health-care system, transit service and schools, she said.

Article content

Article content

“A lot of the same concerns here today. No communication, and the community hasn’t been notified of a plan,” she said. “From my experience, the concerns are very valid.”

McIntyre said she didn’t believe the protest came from anti-refugee sentiment in the community, but rather was an issue of “resources and transparency.”

In an interview Saturday, Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine said he had received more than 100 emails from residents, and their concerns fell into one of four categories.

Some residents were looking for more information and were “confused and scared,” while others acknowledged the need for temporary housing for refugees, but didn’t believe it should be in their community.

Others welcomed the measure, offering to get involved and help, while some “are quite anti-migrant in general,” Devine said.

“For anybody to assume there is one single consensus, that is naive,” he said. “For those who say, ‘I see a need to do that, but don’t do it here,’ I’d like to ask them, ‘Where do they think it should go?’”

City council gave staff the authority to identify sites for the short-term housing, something Mayor Mark Sutcliffe told reporters Friday was done to depoliticize the decision.

Article content

“Because, if we go to constituents and say, ‘Hey, do you want a refugee camp?’ You know the response,” Devine said.

He added the tent-like structures being proposed were part of a larger initiative, funded by federal government dollars, to address the growing migrant crisis felt by Ottawa and other major Canadian cities. It includes nonprofits being given money to provide more permanent housing solutions for refugees.

Devine noted two Ottawa community centres had been used to house asylum seekers and refugees for two years.

All told, there are 330 beds at temporary emergency centres, plus approximately 600 newcomers staying in homeless shelters, representing about 60 per cent of shelter users, the city said.

The Ottawa Mission has previously called on the federal government to boost aid for newcomers, as its downtown Ottawa shelter bursts at the seams in an attempt to keep a roof over everyone’s heads. Earlier this year, Mission CEO Peter Tilley said people were sleeping in chairs or curled up on mats in the corners of a waiting room.

“A plan is being implemented,” Devine said. “Because, if we do nothing, they’ll continue to overwhelm the Ottawa Mission.

“And the Mission won’t turn them away, nor should they.”

Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed.

With files from Ashley Fraser

Article content