On a recent June morning, a lineup of refugees and asylum seekers to Canada waited outside of Toronto’s Peter Street intake centre for people experiencing homelessness. With their lives in a rolling bag or backpack, they counted the hours until they could get help finding a temporary shelter. With nowhere else to go, some sat or lay on the sidewalk, a few with a strip of cardboard to soften the ground.
Asylum seekers and refugees sleep outside Toronto’s Peter Street intake centre in this July 2023 photo.
Eddie Jjumba, a senior pastor at Milliken Church, says despite financial stress, he believes churches will continue to take the lead in supporting asylum seekers and refugees. “The feeling is, if something significant or really fundamental is going to be done we have to pretty much carry the burden by ourselves.”
Refugees and asylum seekers wait outside the City of Toronto’s shelter intake and assessment centre on Peter Street in downtown Toronto on Thursday.