Toronto metropolis council quietly obtained a scathing report on Wednesday from the town’s ombusdman with out dialogue and with out directing employees to implement any of the 14 suggestions.
The report regarded into the town’s determination, introduced in 2023, to restrict refugee claimants’ entry to shelter beds. Ombudsman Kwame Addo discovered the choice amounted to anti-Black racism.
When the report was launched final week, Mayor Olivia Chow mentioned in a press release it might want “considerate dialogue at council.” As a substitute, it was obtained with out dialogue.
Not all councillors had been blissful about that, nonetheless.
“We must always have had a debate on it,” mentioned Coun. Jamaal Myers.
“I believe it was a missed alternative for Torontonians to only perceive extra of what really occurred, and what’s the plan to make sure this does not occur once more.”
Addo’s suggestions embody that any future adjustments to shelter eligibility must be reviewed by entities together with the town’s human rights workplace, that shelter employees and management ought to obtain anti-Black racism coaching, and that the town ought to create a technique to interact with refugee claimants and organizations that serve them.
Report ‘onerous to learn’ says councillor
Coun. Michael Thompson, who missed the preliminary vote to obtain the report, tried to re-open dialogue later within the afternoon. Councillors voted 14 to 9 in opposition to the movement to rethink.
“I had a tough time studying this report, and for this council simply to permit it to go like that, it is shameful,” Thompson mentioned following that vote.
The report says the town determined in November 2022 to cease permitting refugee claimants entry to common shelter system beds. The choice was publicly introduced six months later in Could 2023, with the town saying it might refer refugee claimants to federal applications and away from at-capacity shelters.
Addo mentioned the choice was not in step with the Toronto Housing Constitution, which says all individuals have a proper to a secure, safe and inexpensive residence, and likewise went in opposition to the Ontario Human Rights Code.
“Many refugee claimants had been dwelling on the sidewalk or in make-shift shelters with solely restricted entry to sanitation, meals and water,” Addo wrote within the report.
Metropolis supervisor disagrees with findings
Toronto’s metropolis supervisor, nonetheless, mentioned in a letter to Addo that he disagrees with the findings.
Within the Nov. 26 letter, Paul Johnston mentioned he wouldn’t take steps to implement the suggestions, past work already underway, until directed to by council. He additionally known as the tone of the report “accusatory.”
At a information convention final week, Johnson mentioned the town is already working with refugee organizations. He mentioned metropolis employees are additionally already topic to necessary anti-racism coaching.
