With winter on its way, Toronto’s chronically unhoused are competing for scarce resources with thousands of newly-arrived African asylum seekers.
The asylum seekers are especially vulnerable as they have never been exposed to extreme cold, says Eddie Jjumba, a pastor at Dominion International Church in Toronto.
“If nothing changes and people keep showing up to these places but have to spend a night or nights at the doors, people are going to die,” Jjumba said.
Last week, Canadian Affairs spoke to some of the more than 100 asylum seekers who have been staying at the church.
“I love Canada, but it is so cold!” said Patrick Kiwanuka, a Ugandan man staying at Dominion. “It’s so cold here. I pray that I will get used to it.”
It wasn’t even below freezing that day.
‘Bad places’
Christopher Bell, 45, grew up in Hamilton and became homeless after leaving his foster parents’ house as a teen. Some of the 30 winters since then have been unbearable. There was the blizzard of ’99, when Mayor Mel Lastman called in the military to shovel out downtown Toronto. Bell woke up in a snowbank.
“I was sleeping outside the Church of Redeemer at Avenue and Bloor. The minister found me buried in snow. I woke up and couldn’t feel my legs… I had to go to the hospital,” said Bell, who only recently found housing.
Through the winter months, Bell has slept at shelters. But he usually doesn’t bother.
“[The shelters] are understaffed for sure. You call and they put you on hold or tell you to call back in a few hours. Or they’ll put you in bad places, like Seaton House,” he said, referring to a Toronto shelter for men. “They’ll steal the shoes right off your feet. Happened to me before.”
Sleeping outside in the winter can be deadly. And not everyone has experience with the challenges of winter camping, says Cheryl Forchuk, a distinguished professor at Western University.
“There’s a huge variability with the skill set of some of the people that are living outdoors,” she said.
Some are very well organized: They know what to do with their tarp. They know what kind of gear they need, she says.
But not everyone. “I’ve seen situations where people will take open flame into tents for heat, and they catch on fire. At one of the encampments I visited, they had a pile of tents that caught on fire, as it had happened more than once.”
On November 15, police in Mississauga found a man from Nigeria who died in a tent encampment. He was trying to heat his tent with a device and died from carbon monoxide poisoning, police said.
That death should be attributed to the cold weather, despite his ignorance, Jjumba says.
“The man is trying to keep warm in a very cold tent. It’s the same problem.”
Preyed upon
Toronto’s chronically unhoused population and the African asylum seekers are on the street for very different reasons.
Eric James Barton is an outreach worker at Sanctuary Toronto, a community support for Toronto’s homeless people.
Recently, he was outside a Toronto shelter where both African and Canadian homeless people were sleeping, as no beds were available inside.
“There were three guys from Africa. They looked like good friends. They had their suitcases tied around their ankles. They had their sleeping bags ready and were very organized. I doubt they’d ever touched drugs in their life.”
“And then I was talking to this guy I know. He’s a bit of a good-time-Charlie. He had a shitty upbringing and his parents ditched him. He drinks and smokes too much herb. Street life doesn’t bother him much, pretty tough and can handle it and knows the ropes.”
For the Africans, coming in close proximity with homeless people who have substance abuse or mental health issues can be dangerous, Barton says.
Jjumba says the asylum seekers sleeping at homeless shelters were exposed to destructive behaviours and unsanitary conditions. People were screaming, breaking bottles and worse.
“Our brothers and sisters reported that lack of hygiene made it very difficult, especially at meal times,” he said.
“We also had an incident of a brother who went in with no history of using, and after three weeks, he was using drugs.”
Like anyone on the street, the Africans can be preyed upon.
That preying isn’t necessarily done by the other homeless people, but by recruiters from the sex and drug trades, Forchuk says.
“Homeless people have to deal [with those offers] as well. But often they are told by recruiters to do some recruiting themselves.”
With such little capacity in Toronto’s homeless shelters, local churches have opened their doors for both groups.
East End United Church has hosted a Friday night out-of-the-cold program for Toronto’s homeless for decades. The church recently offered round-the-clock housing to 30 African asylum seekers until the federal government steps up with a better place for them.
That has left some homeless Canadians feeling bitter.
“It’s challenging when they see the community rallying around the asylum seekers, but don’t see as many in the community rallying around the chronically unhoused in the same way. It doesn’t mean those in the community aren’t supporting our out-of-the-cold guests — they are — it may just not be as immediately visible,” said Reverend Bri-anne Swan.
On Friday nights, they keep the two groups entirely separate.
“Part of the reason there’s no crossover is that there’s a misconception from a few of the out-of-the-cold guests that the asylum seekers are taking resources that should be available for them,” Swan said.
The asylum program is only temporary, and the church is expecting that, eventually, their African guests won’t need around-the-clock housing. But that is a hard pill to swallow for some that have been homeless for decades.
This article was updated to include additional comments from Pastor Eddie Jjumba.
Great article Fin – keep them coming.. Your a great voice for homeless and Jay Barton (Sanctuary) who represents many.