London wants a funded plan before offering to help Toronto with asylum seekers

The city of London won't pledge immediate help to Toronto as that city struggles to deal with an influx of asylum seekers. Instead, the mayor's office says London must first join other cities in pressing for a comprehensive, funded plan from senior governments to help all cities settle asylum seekers and refugees.

Toronto Mayor John Tory — who has said his city's shelter system is struggling to accommodate asylum seekers — spoke with Ontario mayors about the problem on a conference call Friday. Tory said many offered to pitch in.

"The response that I got from across Ontario was fabulously positive and they've agreed, many of them from different parts of the province, to help," he said, adding many of the mayors suggested they also had jobs to offer newcomers.

London in 'same situation'

A statement from the office of London Mayor Matt Brown said London is in the "same situation" as Toronto and wants to help, but first needs to know where the money is coming from.

A spokesperson for Brown said the mayor has asked London's city manager for specifics about the number of refugees and asylum seekers here.

Toronto is currently housing some 800 migrants, including 200 children in dormitories at two Toronto colleges — a temporary solution that will end in August when students return to school.

The federal government recently pledged to give Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba $50 million to help offset some of the costs incurred due to the influx of asylum seekers illegally crossing the Canada-U.S. border.

Ontario has been promised $11 million by the federal government, but Tory has said Toronto alone needs $64 million to recoup costs.