As attitudes toward immigrants shift, this Ottawa shelter is just trying to keep them warm
One resident from Ghana has been sleeping at the Ottawa Mission for five months
Ashley Potter looks through a rack of donated winter clothing, where there are more than a few Ottawa Senators jerseys hanging amid the winter coats and sweaters.
Soon, new immigrants to Canada might find themselves supporters of Ottawa's hockey team.
"We have to make sure that we're getting people dressed properly to be able to brave the elements of their first Canadian winter," Potter told CBC Radio's The House.
Potter is the manager of frontline services at the Ottawa Mission, which provides food, shelter and clothing to vulnerable people in the city.
He's responsible for juggling the Mission's finite resources and increasing demands on its services — fuelled in recent years by a rise in the number of refugees and asylum seekers.
Last October, the percentage of immigrants sleeping at his shelter hit a record high.
According to the Mission's annual report for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, asylum seekers accounted for 61 per cent of people occupying its shelter beds in October 2023.
By September 2024, that share had declined to 36 per cent. Potter attributed the reduction to warmer weather and the City of Ottawa opening up emergency centres.
But colder weather is coming, and there are many people in the city without a place to call home.
"We've had people that have been forced to sleep in our lounge in plastic chairs, hoping that the next day a bed will become available to them," Potter said.
Arriving with no place to go
Rexford has been sleeping at the Mission for the last five months. CBC has agreed to use only his first name because, as a refugee claimant, his immigration status is under review and he worries it will affect his asylum claim.
He fled Ghana after the country passed a law in February making it illegal to identify as 2SLGBTQ+. He arrived in Ottawa in May.
Rexford came straight to the Ottawa Mission from the airport and started his life in Canada by sleeping on the shelter's chapel floor. He's currently on a waiting list for housing.
While the Mission is committed to helping anyone in need who comes to their door, new arrivals like Rexford displace existing vulnerable clients, Potter said. Many suffer from addiction and struggle even more when there's no room at the shelter.
"They're not going to put the time into waiting in line for what could be many hours to be able to see if they access a bed," Potter said. "They try to go to another shelter, or we see them just using [drugs] out on the street."
Over the last two years, Potter said, the shelter's responses to overdoses have gone up 500 per cent.
Sometimes, those overdosing are people who are "new to the country and they're very optimistic and they want to get to work," Potter said.
"And then, you know, two, three months later, I see their name on an overdose report," he said. "I can only imagine what the journey was from optimism to despair to now seeing addiction coupled with it."
A bed, food and skills training
Jeanne Mitavu is leaning over a turkey breast, carving precise, even slices.
She's one of 30 students — most of them newcomers to Canada — who are learning to prepare thousands of Thanksgiving meals to feed Ottawa's vulnerable residents.
The students are all enrolled in the Mission's food services training program, which was created in 2004 by Chef Ric Watson to teach catering skills.
Today, Watson estimates three-quarters of the class are newcomers to Canada.
"All they wanted was a better life and to change their life," Watson told The House's host Catherine Cullen. "And they came from a past that was frightening for many of them. So we knew that we just had to help."
Mitavu is from Rwanda. She came to Canada in August 2022 with her husband — who was accepted into Canada through the Federal Skilled Worker Program — and their four children.
When she landed in Canada, a friend invited her to try traditional Thanksgiving food, including turkey, salad and pumpkin pie.
"We really enjoyed [the food] because it was our first time eating it," Mitavu said. "It's like a sign of recognizing what farmers did the previous season. We really appreciated this culture of Thanksgiving here in Canada."
Mitavu is grateful for the chance to resettle in Canada. When asked about the current debate about immigration levels, she argues that newcomers are good for the country.
"When you open the doors for many people from the different continents, you learn, you exchange. It's good," she said.
Mitavu said that as she continues with the training program, she's looking forward to learning how to cook the food of all the different cultures in Canada.
"This catering job gives the opportunity to embrace the world in ... one place," Mitavu said.
Concerns over immigration policy rising
Over the last two years, provinces and the federal government have been scrutinizing Canada's immigration system and clamping down on the number of newcomers allowed into the country.
According to polling, Canadians' sentiments on immigration are changing. In September, the Angus Reid Institute found Canadians' concerns about immigration have risen fourfold in the last two years.
"So that really contextualized the extent to which that this is now on the minds, unprompted, of Canadians," said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute.
Moreover, a quarter of poll respondents said immigration and refugees are among the top issues facing the country, putting it in a tie with climate change. (The poll did find that the high cost of living, health care and housing affordability are still top of mind for most Canadians).
"I am not surprised at this stage, where it feels like life is harder and less affordable, that people are looking at immigration among many potential causes or problems or drivers of what's wrong and saying 'Well, [immigration] is part of the issue,'" Kurl said.
"I think that the consensus around immigration, if it ever existed, has not been there for a while. Maybe we haven't talked about it in the open."
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