African-Canadian organizations and advocates are calling for national action after the death of a Kenyan asylum seeker just hours after she arrived at a shelter in the Greater Toronto Area.
Pastor Eddie Jjumba of the Milliken Wesleyan Methodist Church told a news conference Friday morning in Mississauga, west of Toronto, that a woman he identified as Delphina Ngigi, a 46-year-old mother from Kenya, died last weekend, mere days after her arrival in Canada.
Her death mirrors that of a Nigerian man who died in a tent outside this same shelter in mid-November, after he was denied a spot because it was full. For more than a year now, during a national housing and homelessness crisis, those entering Canada to make asylum claims have struggled to find shelter – as several levels of government have fought publicly about who should fund services for them.
Mr. Jjumba said Ms. Ngigi arrived alone on Friday, seeking asylum, and sought shelter at the Dundas Shelter in Mississauga. But he said she was initially turned away, spending hours outdoors before ultimately getting a chair in the lobby.
“I hope we can take from this that, when essential emergency services – such as a roof over someone’s head – when they are delayed or denied, one of the outcomes is actually death,” Mr. Jjumba, whose church is based in nearby Markham, said in a phone interview Friday after the news conference. “I hope that can be something that comes out of this effort to shine light on this very, very tragic situation.”
Mr. Jjumba was joined at the news conference by representatives from Black-led community groups, who he said had gathered out of “shared outrage and shared grief.”
Peel Region – a regional government that includes Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon and owns the 225-bed shelter – confirmed that a woman was taken to hospital from the shelter after experiencing a medical emergency, where she died. The shelter is operated by the Salvation Army.
The region said in a statement that the death was not deemed suspicious, and police are not involved.
The statement said Peel would continue to work with other levels of government to secure more funding and support for asylum seekers.
Mr. Jjumba said he is troubled by the deaths of two African asylum seekers, in the same city and only months apart.
“You can’t tell me some random events are unfolding, that they all just happen to be African or Black people. No, some systemic thing has to explain it – and that’s what we want to call to attention,” he said.
“This is no longer an issue of some local municipality, or some city. This is all levels of government. We are calling for immediate action to prioritize the well being of African refugees.”
According to a city staff report on the region’s asylum-claimant response presented to Peel Regional council Thursday, an “influx of asylum claimants into Peel has placed immense pressure on Peel’s shelter system, which is now operating at 383 per cent capacity.”
Roughly 1,529 asylum claimants are in the region’s shelter system, according to the report – accounting for roughly 72 per cent of users, as opposed to 5 per cent historically.
The report notes the region is working with other levels of government to develop “a more sustainable solution to meet the needs of asylum claimants in Peel and beyond,” and expects to provide more details in March.
Mr. Jjumba said this is not a local problem, and that all levels of government must stop pointing the finger at each other, and step up to address the homelessness crisis.
Churches have been filling the gaps, he said. “But the kindness of the church has been abused.”
In an e-mail statement, Julie Lafortune, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, expressed condolences to the woman’s family. She said that the federal government gave $10-million to Peel through the Interim Housing Assistance Program, which is aimed at helping provide shelter and services for asylum seekers.
In January, the federal government announced an additional $362.4-million for the program, on top of initial funding of $212-million announced last year.
Molly Hayes