How Black-led groups quickly moved more than 200 asylum seekers off a Toronto street to shelter

As a group of more than 200 asylum seekers slept on the street in downtown Toronto amid a funding stalemate between the city and the federal government, Ainsworth Morgan told himself the situation couldn't continue and got on the phone. 

Morgan, co-founder of the 100 Strong Foundation, a non-profit that aims to empower Black boys to become leaders, was moved by the sight he saw outside the city shelter intake office on Peter Street, and jumped into action.

"As Canadians, the vast majority of us, we all have an immigrant story," he told CBC Toronto. "Seeing myself in them, I wanted to do something, rather than waiting around and hoping for others."

"The Black community, we are philanthropists at heart. This is what we do," he added. 

Recognizing there's "a lot of red tape" in getting the refugee claimants off the streets, he connected with his organization's board at 100 Strong and said, "We need to do something." 

Morgan and other leaders and volunteers from Black-led organizations decided to act — at a time when advocates say governments were pointing fingers, each saying another was responsible for handling the crisis, all while refugee claimants were sleeping on sidewalks. 

One of his first calls was to Pastor Judith James at the Revivaltime Tabernacle church in North York.  

That was Sunday. By Monday, the asylum seekers were moved indoors.

"She immediately offered up her space, 100 Strong booked the buses and started transporting these refugee claimants. Initially we had 50, then it went to 100, and now we're over 200," he said.

"It's been quite challenging and overwhelming. There's been many hands to make this work, a number of organizations," he explained. 

Within a matter of days, Morgan and others did what advocates have been calling on the government to do for weeks. That's thanks to the work of countless volunteers and individuals who stepped up — and it's a testament to the power of Black-led organizations, he said.

Mayor says groups pushed governments to act

According to the city, the number of asylum seekers in Toronto's shelter system grew 500 per cent in the span of 20 months. In September 2021, there was a low of 530 in the shelter system per night. By May, there were 2,800.

Several organizations, including the Rwandan Canadian Centre for Healing, the African Centre for Refugees in Ontario and the Black Community Housing Advisory Table, a city-created group that comprises housing and affordability leaders and academics, have been working to house and support the asylum seekers.

On July 14, the Black Community Housing Advisory Table held a news conference with housing providers, service workers and advocates to call for urgent housing for those living outside at 129 Peter St.

Cheryll Case, the co-chair of the advisory table, told CBC Toronto that the group's main goal was to ensure the asylum seekers were safe and housed immediately with access to food and health care.

Mayor Olivia Chow told CBC Toronto in a statement that Black community organizations have been on the front lines with others addressing the crisis, and credited their actions for pushing governments into action.

"I have no doubt [the Black Community Housing Advisory Table's] rapid work and the work refugee-serving organizations on the front lines, including the African, Black and Caribbean organizations, both to support people immediately and raise attention, moved other levels of government to come to the table quickly," she said. 

"The work to ensure all refugees have dignified shelter and the services they need is continuing between all levels of government. The emergency motion I introduced at council is a start, and we are working quickly to unlock more shelter spaces," she said. 

The federal government announced this week that asylum seekers would be given a one-time injection of about $212 million, with $97 million for Toronto, into the Interim Housing Assistance Program. 

Anti-Black racism can't be ignored: professor

For some organizers and academics, one of the factors in the lagging response to the crisis was anti-Black racism. Many of the asylum seekers left on the streets had fled their homes in various African countries citing escalating dangers.

Notisha Massaquoi, an assistant professor in health education at the University of Toronto who specializes in how anti-Black racism impacts communities, says it's clear who the system has not been able to accommodate.

"While it's very upsetting to see it come to this crisis point, it's something that's been developing for decades. People have been advocating in the Black community for equal treatment of Black refugees," she said. 

"There's clearly an unequal treatment."

Canada's immigration strategy at the turn of the century aimed to limit Black migrants. In 1911, the cabinet of then-prime minister Wilfrid Laurier passed an order that would ban Black immigrants. Though it never became law, the Laurier government engaged in "informal" measures to limit Black migration, including medical and character examinations, according to research published by the federal government.

More recently, research on Ethiopian and Somali refugees who arrived in the late 1980s and early '90s, has found they faced discrimination and institutional racism, according to research published by Queen's University. 

Woman who fled Kenya finally provided a bed

Among those who were finally moved indoors this week was a 35-year old woman who told CBC Toronto that she escaped an abusive husband in Kenya. The woman, who is not being named over fears her husband may find her, said he was part of a cult that threatened to sexually assault and behead her.

After arriving in Canada on July 1, she said she walked for hours from shelter to shelter, only to be turned away. 

The woman said she heard that refugee claimants from countries in Africa were sleeping outside the Peter Street intake centre. By the time she got there, her feet were bloodied and swollen.

After days of sleeping outside the centre — using cardboard boxes from a dumpster as blankets — she's finally been provided a shelter space in Scarborough.

The experience has left her feeling discarded, she said. "I got rejected from someone I knew, I got rejected and abused. And then I come here for refuge and they are rejecting me again.

"My sin was for me to be a Black person seeking asylum," she said. 

Chenai Kadungure, the executive director of the Black Physicians' Association of Ontario, is helping to support the woman.

The crisis with the refugee claimants from Africa illustrates how the Black community has to continuously fight for rights and support Black people in need when the government has not, she said. 

"We're a community that's always going to have to stand up for each other," she said. "Because one night sleeping on the street is one night too many. We need to do something, now."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.