{"id":1996,"date":"2020-09-23T15:04:45","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T15:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=1996"},"modified":"2020-09-23T15:06:18","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T15:06:18","slug":"putting-canadians-last-homeless-shelters-for-illegals-not-canadians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=1996","title":{"rendered":"Putting Canadians Last: Homeless Shelters for Illegals, Not Canadians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tnc.news\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/tnc.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/tnc-toplogo-400-61.png?fit=400%2C61&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"True North\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Breaking Canadian News and Opinion<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tnc.news\/2019\/02\/19\/gordon-homeless-toronto-men-not-offered-hotel-rooms-like-illegal-border-crossers\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/tnc.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/website-gordonhomeless-1.png?resize=1026%2C455&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tnc.news\/category\/stories\/\">stories<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">GORDON: Homeless Toronto men not offered hotel rooms like illegal border crossers<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Refugee claimants are staying in four hotels and an undisclosed number of motels for upwards of six months<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8ec61c35f48ce7f1a8b65c561a88346d?s=100&amp;d=identicon&amp;r=g\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>by <a href=\"https:\/\/tnc.news\/author\/truenorthwire\/\">True North Wire<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tnc.news\/2019\/02\/19\/gordon-homeless-toronto-men-not-offered-hotel-rooms-like-illegal-border-crossers\/\"><time datetime=\"2019-02-19T01:23:28-05:00\">February 19, 2019<\/time><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftnc.news%2F2019%2F02%2F19%2Fgordon-homeless-toronto-men-not-offered-hotel-rooms-like-illegal-border-crossers%2F&amp;t=GORDON%3A%20Homeless%20Toronto%20men%20not%20offered%20hotel%20rooms%20like%20illegal%20border%20crossers\">Facebook<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=GORDON%3A%20Homeless%20Toronto%20men%20not%20offered%20hotel%20rooms%20like%20illegal%20border%20crossers&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Ftnc.news%2F2019%2F02%2F19%2Fgordon-homeless-toronto-men-not-offered-hotel-rooms-like-illegal-border-crossers%2F&amp;via=TrueNorthCentre\">Twitter<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftnc.news%2F2019%2F02%2F19%2Fgordon-homeless-toronto-men-not-offered-hotel-rooms-like-illegal-border-crossers%2F&amp;title=GORDON%3A%20Homeless%20Toronto%20men%20not%20offered%20hotel%20rooms%20like%20illegal%20border%20crossers\">reddit<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Ftnc.news%2F2019%2F02%2F19%2Fgordon-homeless-toronto-men-not-offered-hotel-rooms-like-illegal-border-crossers%2F&amp;title=GORDON%3A%20Homeless%20Toronto%20men%20not%20offered%20hotel%20rooms%20like%20illegal%20border%20crossers\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Three men staying at a 24-hour homeless shelter in downtown Toronto told True North they were not offered hotel or motel rooms to live in like the many refugee claimants who illegally entered Canada have been provided by the City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere were [some] Nigerians. And they got hooked up with housing pretty quickly,\u201d says a 28-year-old man from Whitby who has been in the shelter system for the last 12 months. The past couple months he has been staying at Fred Victor, a temporary homeless shelter located at 545 Lake Shore Blvd West and known for the majority of its occupants being drug addicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe showers are dirty, the washrooms are dirty. There are needles everywhere,\u201d says the 28-year-old man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also said if he had a few months to live in a hotel room he believes he would be able to get his life together, but is finding it difficult living surrounded by drug addicts (he is not one himself).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tnc.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/website-gordonhomeless-5.png?fit=950%2C421&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1645\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>True North has <a href=\"https:\/\/tnc.news\/2019\/01\/19\/toronto-hotels-closed-to-the-public-open-only-to-migrants-and-homeless\/\">previously reported<\/a> that refugee claimants are staying in four hotels and an undisclosed number of motels for upwards of six months at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The amenities at some of these hotels include WiFi, personal TVs, cleaning services, food allowance, etc, far better than the one TV and telephone, as well as extremely slow WiFi, available to those staying at Fred Victor. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEvery other night there\u2019s a fight going on at three in the morning or there\u2019s an OD or something like that. \u2026 A guy died here the other night, people die here. It\u2019s traumatic, for sure,\u201d says the young man from Whitby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In contrast, a Syrian man illegally entering Canada recently and staying at hotel in downtown Toronto the past months said it was \u201cfive star\u201d accommodations compared to living in America the past four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Whitby man says the social workers in charge of helping them find permanent housing \u201caren\u2019t as engaged\u201d in actively finding places for homeless people at certain facilities compared to others. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week, City of Toronto chief communications officer Brad Ross told True North there is no preferential treatment given to certain homeless people within the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHotel, respite or shelter all provide different services \u2014 they are not positioned along a continuum from \u2018better\u2019 to \u2018worse\u2019. The City works with each individual client to identify and respond to their specific needs \u2014 including the right facility, e.g. hotels work much better for families who can all live together on the same room, while respite tend to accommodate people with more dynamic schedules, as the curfew requirements are unique to that program.\u201d &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>A Canadian man originally from Tanzania living in the shelter system the last five months and staying at Fred Victor also says the majority of his fellow occupants are drug addicts openly using inside the facility despite the rules forbidding it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDamn right, damn right,\u201d he says laughingly when asked if he would rather live in hotel room. \u201cHave you ever been here at all? It\u2019s just an open area [with beds].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think the [City\u2019s] rationale is that somebody who is new doesn\u2019t know where to go, doesn\u2019t have any way to know anything\u2026 They tend to get better facilities than Canadians.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the influx of thousands of asylum seekers into the Toronto shelter system over the past two years, the city has spent tens of millions of dollars in additional funding to add thousands of additional beds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tnc.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/website-gordonhomeless-4.png?fit=950%2C421&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1644\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Shelter, Support and Housing Administration general manager Paul Raftis still warned City officials the shelter system is in \u201cimmediate danger of being overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A 26-year-old man, addicted to crystal meth and fentanyl, was turned away from Fred Victor on Saturday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOh yeah, sometimes I\u2019m out in the cold\u2026 All night man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the same street as Fred Victor, but on the east end a couple blocks away from the Distillery District, up to 100 homeless people are staying in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/toronto\/city-adds-3-temporary-sites-to-avoid-repeat-of-toronto-s-shelter-crisis-1.4899801\">one of three tented structures<\/a> costing $2.5 million each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two of the prefabricated structures opened at the end of January, including the one next to the Gardiner which is an empty lot of land closed off to the public by a locked gate and barbed-wire fencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/tnc.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/website-gordonhomeless-3.png?fit=950%2C421&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1646\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Check out our newest product \u2013 The True North Field Report<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/ca\/podcast\/the-true-north-field-report\/\">Listen on iTunes<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4OLyDjimIsUe9nMGWVQhdM?si=cEV2Box3TomnXz_mH7DuXg\">Listen on Spotify<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/candicemalcolm\">Listen on Soundcloud<\/a><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/drpeterscode.com\/add-messages-footers-ads-to-bottom-of-every-post-and-page.php\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re asking readers, like you, to make a contribution in support of True North\u2019s fact-based, independent journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike the mainstream media, True North isn\u2019t getting a government bailout. Instead, we depend on the generosity of Canadians like you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How can a media outlet be trusted to remain neutral and fair if they\u2019re beneficiaries of a government handout? We don\u2019t think they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This is why independent media in Canada is more important than ever. If you\u2019re able, please make a tax-deductible donation to True North today. Thank you so much.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breaking Canadian News and Opinion stories GORDON: Homeless Toronto men not offered hotel rooms like illegal border crossers Refugee claimants are staying in four hotels and an undisclosed number of motels for upwards of six months by True North WireFebruary 19, 2019 Facebook Twitter reddit LinkedIn Three men staying at a 24-hour homeless shelter in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[270,92],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1996"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1998,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996\/revisions\/1998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}