'We're in the red here': Montreal shelters for asylum seekers nearing capacity

Shelters for asylum seekers in the Montreal area are running out of space

Since the reopening of Quebec's Roxham Road last November, the unauthorized border point has seen the highest numberof irregular border crossersin nearly five years amounting towell over 2,000 per month.

Peggy Larose, reception and integration coordinator for newcomers at La Maison d'Hati in the Saint-Michel district, says thenon-profit resource centre has seen an upsurge in asylum seekers.

"[It]has increased our workload with already limited resources," she said.

The Hotel Place Dupuis in downtown Montreal, which was recently converted into a homeless shelter, is now also welcoming asylum seekers. More than 500 are currently housed there, but its site isclose to reaching maximum capacity.

"We're in the red here. We are in the red," said Francine Dupuis, CEO of the CIUSSS du Center-Ouest-de-l'le-de-Montral, which oversees PRAIDA, the provincial government organization that helps claimants in their first few months.

PRAIDAindicates that there are more than 1,000 people occupying the beds offered by the organization in Montreal, including those at Place Dupuis, out of a possible 1,300. The Canadian federal government, for its part, rents nearly 900 hotel rooms occupied by asylum seekers in the Montreal region.

Another challenge in Quebec is the time it takes to process immigration papers.

"Right now, those trying to obtain a work permit are facing delays of six months, eight months," said Stephan Reichhold, director ofla Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes rfugies et immigrantes.

"This is neither to the advantage of asylum seekers nor to the advantage of Quebec, because we are obliged to give them social assistance."

In this context, the number of Ukrainian refugees promised by Canada could require a sustained mobilization of community stakeholders.

The Quebec government announced this week a program tohelp people with family in Ukraine sponsor their relatives to bring them to Canada.The government is also committing to speeding up the processing of temporary immigration applications.

In Montreal, the official opposition has asked Mayor Valrie Plante's administration to resurrecttheco-ordination committee set upin 2015 towelcome Syrian refugees and establish an online form to identify offers of help from Montrealers.

AQuebec City lawyer has already gathered nearly 200 names of Canadians willing tohost refugees in their homes.