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“We’re just going to continue to urge upon the government of Canada in particular, but both governments, the need to help us in a tangible way.”

It’s not that Ottawa is ignoring the issue. A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said the government wants to set up a “triage system” for Ontario, similar to one in Quebec.

Them saying 'we can’t take anymore' won’t stop people from coming

The federal government also announced earlier this month that it would provide $11 million to Ontario to help with temporary housing. But the money and the triage system are on hold until after Ontario’s new government takes office on June 29, spokesman Mathieu Genest said. “Minister Hussen looks forward to engaging with his provincial counterpart in the Ontario government as soon as one is named.”

Liberal MP Adam Vaughan, a former Toronto councillor, said the Ontario election “couldn’t have come at a worse time” in terms of the government’s ability to respond to the surge of asylum seekers, though he added that Toronto’s shelter system has been near capacity for a decade. “It’s bursting at the seams at the best of times.”

But Genest also said the federal government needs better data from Toronto about its asylum seekers to know how to respond. In Quebec, the province tracks asylum seekers and knows how long they stay in the shelter system; the numbers spurred Ottawa to speed up the work permit application process last year. But Toronto isn’t collecting that data in the same way, he said.

City staff in Toronto don’t seem to know quite what to make of that criticism. Gord Tanner, the bureaucrat in charge of the city’s shelter system, said the city records the reasons why people are seeking shelter when they are admitted to the system. City staff follow up with an assessment of needs that can dig into that data in more detail.