Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 13th, 2010

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Are you familiar with a case recently of somebody who was of same sex persuasion and the difficulties they went through in Greece?

[Ted Salci]

I am not, sorry.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

You just happen to be speaking to a Greek.

[Ted Salci]

Yes, I'm not familiar with what they've been going through in their countries. I'm not versed on the political status of those individuals.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Are you familiar, sir, with the difficulties you would face in Greece if you were a Muslim, given the Muslim situation?

[Ted Salci]

Once again, that's beyond the scope of my knowledge.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

But you did call Greece a safe third country.

[Ted Salci]

Yes, I believe that's the case.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

I'm not saying that Greece isn't, but there are difficulties in all of the countries. So my difficulty, sir, would be that when we say a country is a safe third country, the situation varies country by country. And, yes, in the European countries if Roma have problems in one particular country, for example, they can go and work in another country. I'll give you that much.

However, I do want to move on and ask a couple of questions about the people who are crossing the border. You said they occupy up to 15% of your hostel space?

[Peter Partington]

No, what I stated was that 15% of our hostel space is taken up by refugee claimants.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

For how long, sir? A couple of days, a couple of months?

[Peter Partington]

Well, it's 15% on a regular basis. So 15% of our bed nights would be taken up by those. I mentioned that 600 refugee claimants cross the border at the Peace Bridge to Fort Erie every month.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

How many beds would—

[Peter Partington]

I don't have that number, but it is quite significant. A few years ago, when there was a crisis at the border because of legislative changes in the United States, the region, along with the Red Cross and other organizations, opened a great number of motels and schools to accommodate the influx at that time.

I guess what I would say is that the region has always accommodated those individuals, but I was just pointing out what that amounts to as a percentage of the services we provide to all of the residents of Niagara. We do provide those to the claimants coming in.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Is that something you do willingly, or is it something you regret doing or hesitate in doing?

[Peter Partington]

Of course we don't regret doing it. We're located in a very wonderful part of the region. We believe that we have to serve not only the citizens but also the visitors and those who come through on an immigration and refugee basis. We serve them well. What I was doing was just telling you what the impact is on our services.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Mr. Partington, do you get any extra funding from the federal or provincial governments for those beds, the 15%?

[Peter Partington]

No, those are our costs. When I mentioned the 15%, those are our costs. When I talk about the cost of providing social services through Ontario Works and so on, I think our total costs are in excess of $1 million. That's our cost. That's apart from what we get from the province or the feds.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

So you're spending $150,000 per year at 15%, if I were to extrapolate that backwards, to help the people who are coming through and seeking refuge in Canada.

[Peter Partington]

No, that's not correct. There are two elements to our services. One is hostel beds, and I said 15% of the bed capacity is taken up with refugee claimants. That's one.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Sorry, can you give us a figure of what it's costing the border city of Niagara in people claiming refugee status? Roughly how much does it cost per year?

[Peter Partington]

What I want to tell you, first of all, it's in the Region of Niagara, not the border city of Niagara Falls. But the cost to the region totally, for assisting the refugee claimants, would be in excess of $1 million.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Per year.

[Peter Partington]

Yes, and that's with respect to Ontario Works--

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Mr. Partington, do you think that money is well spent?