Cornwall groups seek 60-day federal extension for asylum seekers at Dev Hotel

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Fifteen organizations from Cornwall and the surrounding area have co-signed a letter to three federal ministers pleading for the asylum-seeker accommodation contract at the Dev Centre to be extended.

The United Way Centraide SDG, Sen. Bernadette Clement and the Association des communautés francophones de l’Ontario – Stormont, Dundas, et Glengarry (ACFO-SDG) penned the letter. It was written after a meeting of 60 people representing 43 organizations held July 17. A full list of all attendees wasn’t released, but the authors said the consensus from the meeting was that more time is needed.

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The letter, co-signed by 15 organizations who attended the meeting, was sent to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) Minister Marc Miller, Housing and Infrastructure Minister Sean Fraser and Treasury Board president Anita Anand.

IRCC notified those being housed at the Dev Centre at the beginning of this month that its contract with the hotel and conference centre was ending July 31. At the time there were about 533 people living at the site, which has been under an IRCC contract to house and provide other services to asylum seekers since the summer of 2022. As of July 17, where were 514 people living at the Dev Centre.

Concerns cited by organizations that have supported the people living at the Dev Centre fall broadly into two issues: that 30 days’ notice is not enough time for residents to find alternate housing, meaning they will likely be sent to another hotel in Ontario that’s under an IRCC contract in another community where they will have to rebuild the connections made in Cornwall; and, that more than 200 of those living at the Dev have jobs in the Cornwall area and those employers will be left short-handed if IRCC relocates them to another community.

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Concerns have evolved from those stated by some organizations when they first learned about the end of the IRCC contract, fearing the Cornwall area would be left trying to absorb over 500 new residents during a time when there are few vacancies in publicly subsidized housing and little availability of affordably priced housing in the market. The letter notes this reality, and that housing markets in other communities are similar.

Last week, IRCC told the Ottawa Citizen that any individuals at the Dev still needing housing would not be relocated to Ottawa. IRCC maintained it has been working with Dev residents for months now on transitioning into permanent housing, without overwhelming the shelter systems in Cornwall, Ottawa and surrounding communities. The ministry has temporary accommodation contracts in Ottawa, along with Kingston, Mississauga, Niagara Falls and Windsor.

The IRCC contract with Dev has provided residents with room and board, some medical services, and access to social and housing information while they seek permanent housing and await word on the status of their asylum claim. In 2022-23, more than 1,800 people spent time at the Dev while awaiting their next steps, with most choosing to move to other communities once their time in Cornwall came to an end.

The City of Ottawa said last week that it did not expect any of the Dev residents to be placed in Ottawa.

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