Toronto entrepreneur pledges $20K to house refugees stuck on city streets

A Toronto entrepreneur has personally pledged to donate at least $20,000 to house refugees who have been camped out in downtown Toronto for weeks.

“They don't need a handout; they need a hand up. Those people are exactly like [me when] I came here and a lot of us came here, and we need to step up for them and show them that we can do better,” Paramount Fine Foods Founder Mohamad Fakih told Newstalk1010 Monday morning.

He said advocates and volunteers are working to find a place for these refugees to live and once they secure space, he will personally foot the bill.

While Fakih encourages all levels of government to move faster on the issue that’s been described as a crisis - in the interim – he is asking other private citizens to pitch in what they can.

“It's our job. It's our Canadian dream for us to protect and to send the message that no that's not the welcome we want to provide them,” he said.

His philanthropy is aimed at bridging a gap that’s resulted from a stalemate between the city and the federal government – leaving dozens of refugees caught in the middle.

For weeks, about 30 or so people have slept outside of a shelter intake centre on Peter Street ever since the city started referring refugees to federal programs in June.

They camp outside the intake with the hope that an extra shelter spot will open up, but few do.

“Every single minute, every single day comes to these people when they're sitting in the street, and they're not safe,” Fakih said.

Refugees camp outside of a shelter intake centre on Peter Street in Toronto (Craig Wadman).

According to the city, Toronto hasn’t received any new funding for refugee shelter spaces since last year, when the federal government provided money to cover the costs of asylum seekers who accessed Toronto’s shelter system in 2022.

Meanwhile, there was a 440 per cent increase in refugee claimants in May, compared to September 2021. 

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow released a statement on Friday after a meeting with all levels of government, calling it productive and focused, with all parties agreeing to return to the table with concrete actions on Tuesday.