Some Syrian refugees who have come to Canada in search of a new home are instead finding themselves living in hotels.
The federal government has put out a tender notice for hotel rooms to accommodate the refugees in Fredericton and Oromocto, and the Fredericton Inn has already reached out to see what it can do.
“I decided to contact our MP’s office to see if there’s any way we could assist, and they’re going to send me a link and put a little bit of a bid in to see what we can do to help refugees in coming to our community,” says John Waite, general manager of the Fredericton Inn.
The tender was issued Monday and ends Thursday. It asks for about 150 hotel rooms daily in Fredericton and Oromocto, to serve about 450 refugees each night.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada says officials have changed the initial housing process for the refugees once they arrive, and government is now procuring hotels because the search for permanent housing is taking longer than expected.
A total of 23,394 refugees have resettled in Canada, and they’re arriving in the Maritimes at a fast pace. Halifax has welcomed 586 government-assisted refugees so far, while Fredericton and Moncton have welcomed 311 refugees each. Another 330 have settled in Saint John and 99 in Charlottetown.
Only 52 per cent of Syrian families have found permanent housing across Canada and Immigration Minister John McCallum admits it’s an issue that needs to be addressed.
“I’ve been honest in communicating any time there’s been problems, whether it’s exit visas, housing or whatever, and clearly that is an issue,” said McCallum.
Shilo Boucher, the CEO of the Saint John YMCA, says accommodations are desperately needed in the Port City.
“Crunch time is on because we know, for instance, we’re going to get another 60 this week, so we want to make sure to move them quickly into housing,” says Boucher.
She says they’re also looking for more volunteers to help out.
As for Waite, he says he’s getting his bid ready.
“So, they need a little bit of a transition time, so I think that’s where we can step up and help,” he says.
Military officials are still involved with the screening process overseas, but the government hopes to end that soon. Officials with the federal government say, once they have reached their goal of bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of the month, the process will slow down to give everyone involved a much-needed break.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Laura Brown
