‘I’m pretty much speechless’: Outrage after Toronto turns down federal shelter offer

globalnews.ca:

City of Toronto two locations as temporary shelters, and operational funding for a third location but the city declined the offer late last week, Global News has learned.At its November meeting, City Council passed a motion requesting Ottawa “take urgent action to address the refugee crisis including funding and operationalizing emergency accommodation at federal sites, including federal armouries, and funding and operationalizing a regional refugee reception centre.” At that same meeting, all 25 councillors and Mayor Olivia Chow signed a letter addressed to the Ministers of National Defence and Emergency Preparedness, reiterating the requests and urgency.The latest call for aid came months after a bitter battle between the city, province, and federal government over refugee housing that led to hundreds of asylum seekers being left out in the elements during the summer.Multiple sources confirmed with Global News the federal government offered the city an option last week, which would open both the Moss Park and Fort York Armouries as shelter space until mid-December. According to one source, as part of the deal, Ottawa would also provide $5 million to the city so it could operate a shelter at the Better Living Centre on the Exhibition Place grounds for the remainder of the winter.The city reportedly declined the offer late last week.Following the fall fiscal update, Mayor Chow took aim at the federal government again for a lack of support for refugee housing.