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Toronto’s emergency shelter system is past capacity and can no longer accommodate new refugee or asylum seekers, Mayor John Tory warned Monday.

More than 3,200 asylum seekers were spread across the Toronto shelter system as of June 20, Tory told the city’s MPs in an urgent bid for more federal and provincial cash and cooperation.

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Many of the asylum seekers crossed into Canada at Roxham Road, on the Quebec border with New York State, before finding their way to Toronto. They’re part of an unusual influx of migrants — heading north from the United States — that is straining all parts of Canada’s refugee system.

Photo by AP Photo/Charles Krupa

In Toronto, refugee agencies have rented out entire hotels — using city money — to house the incoming claimants. Since late May, more than 600 asylum seekers, including 200 children, have been sleeping in the dorms at two local colleges and another 200 claimants are expected to move in soon. By late June, almost half of all shelter users in Toronto — 46 per cent to be exact — were seeking asylum or refugee status.