Five migrant families have settled in Chatham-Kent as part of a pilot project aimed at redirecting “irregular” asylum seekers from all heading to Greater Toronto after crossing the U.S. border into Quebec.

The 20 newcomers, who originally hail from Africa and the Middle East, were bussed in from Montreal on Sept. 14 after completing vigorous security and medical screenings and being cleared by both the RCMP and Canada border officials.

Chatham-Kent had supplied information, brochures and videos to immigration officials in Quebec, who asked the migrants if they would be interested in settling down in southwestern Ontario.

“Chatham-Kent has been designated as a welcoming community,” said April Rietdyk, the municipality’s community and human services manager, “and we stand by that designation.”

The pilot project, capped at five families for the time being, has been in the works since the summer after an influx of irregular migrants overwhelmed Toronto’s shelter system, prompting the city to open student dormitories at Centennial and Humber colleges to accommodate the overflow.

At the time, the federal government also announced the creation of a triage centre in Cornwall, Ont., where border-crossers would be transferred after arriving in Lacolle, Que., and then redirected to smaller communities outside Greater Toronto.

However, the number of asylum seekers has since decreased and “the triage plan involving the use of the NAV (Convention) Centre in Cornwall is not currently necessary,” an immigration department spokesperson told the Star.

The number of monthly irregular arrivals via the U.S. peaked at 2,560 in April but dropped to 1,747 last month. The number fluctuates from month to month, making it impossible to predict trends.

However, according to the latest statistics from border officials, RCMP intercepted a total of 14,125 irregular migrants from the U.S. between January and August, surpassing the 13,221 arrivals reported in the same period last year.

Chatham-Kent, where only 4 per cent of the 102,000 residents are visible minorities, is the first Ontario community outside of Greater Toronto to respond to the federal government’s call to accept migrants from Quebec.

The five families are being housed in a hotel for up to eight weeks while permanent housing is secured. “The rental market is tight, but we do have units available,” Rietdyk said. “Chatham-Kent is so vast we can fit in the entire GTA.”

Staff at a local immigrant settlement agency are assisting the refugees with their work permits and other needs. Rietdyk said the families have been busy collecting documents and completing paperwork this past week in order to launch their new lives in the community. Work permits should arrive in 30 days and asylum claims currently take more than 19 months to process.

“They want to work and be part of the community. The children who came along with the families are just like all of our children, wondering why there’s no snow here, and the older adults want to know what the Wi-Fi password is,” Rietdyk said with a chuckle.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Although some people in Chatham-Kent were opposed to the expense of opening the doors to irregular migrants, Rietdyk said the newcomers receive financial support from the federal and provincial governments. “No extra resources are going in from the municipality in assisting these families,” she noted.

Rietdyk said if the pilot is successful, the same model could be adopted by other municipalities when similar emergency situations arise in the future. She said her staff will keep track of the families and evaluate the program before they decide if the partnership with federal immigration should stay or expand.

Read more about: