Ottawa City Hall is seen on Dec. 7, 2022.
Ottawa is bracing for another surge in demand as asylum seekers continue to overwhelm the city's shelter system.Ottawa's community services committee heard about the city's application for federal support for a welcome and stabilization system for newcomers on Wednesday. The City of Ottawa is hoping for a quick response on its funding application for a newcomer reception centre, which it now says will include two tent-like structures capable of sheltering up to 300 people.
"It needs to be done immediately to deal with the anticipated demand," Brown said. "It's hard to exactly model, but it could be very high."Clara Freire, the city's general manager of community and social services, said it's now clear that the influx of asylum seekers that has overwhelmed Ottawa's shelter system is "not a blip."
The trend shows no sign of abating, according to Freire, who cited conversations with officials at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. "I am concerned when I hear the term sprung shelter, and I just say that having in my previous career worked in refugee camps and I've seen temporaries become permanents," he said. "I am concerned if our concept is to build kind of a two-tiered support system where if you're new to Canada you're going to live in a tent."
Brown said the city studied eight rapid-construction options but settled on sprung structures as the quickest possible solution. He said the sprung structures would allow for partitions, essentially offering everyone their own room.
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