Thank you. I will be sharing my speaking time with my colleague, Olive Mukamana.
Good morning. On behalf of Carrefour le Moutier, its team, and the people we support on a daily basis, I would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak today about the reality faced by asylum seekers, particularly in our case, within the Longueuil metropolitan area on the South Shore, across from Montreal.
Let me briefly explain who we are. Carrefour le Moutier is a frontline community organization whose mission is to welcome, listen to, and empower anyone going through a difficult time or a period of transition, so that they can regain their strength and ability to take action. We are mandated by the Quebec ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration to support asylum seekers during their settlement and search for housing.
Over the past year, through all our initiatives, we have supported more than 1,105 asylum seekers with their settlement process, access to their rights, administrative procedures and addressing their many needs. Over the past three years, we have seen an average increase of 20% in the number of asylum seekers we support.
I will now turn the floor over to my colleague, Ms. Mukamana, to talk about the issues.