City gives grants to groups helping asylum seekers

The City of Montreal announced contributions Monday to two organizations helping asylum seekers who have settled in the borough of Montreal North.

The contributions, totalling $125,141, were approved during the last council meeting of 2017.

One of the recipients, Impulsion-Travail, will use the grant to offer asylum seekers an intensive, fiveweek job placement program.

The other, Coup de pouce jeunesse Montréal-Nord, will put the money toward a program it established eight years ago that helps newcomer students integrate into their classrooms and schools. The grant will help the program grow from 30 students to 200, the city said.

“Welcoming and integrating newcomers is a major challenge for the city of Montreal, but above all an opportunity to enrich and diversify the city’s fabric,” said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante in a statement released Monday.

In a statement, Montreal North borough mayor Christine Black said she is proud of the way the community has come together since last August to help newlyarrived asylum seekers. The grant, she said, will help improve the services already available.

“With little means and no additional financial resources, the municipal government, local institutions, community organizations and volunteers are making every effort each day to welcome these hundreds of newcomers,” Black said.

Black also called on the provincial government for more help.

“Our collective ability to properly accommodate asylum seekers in Montreal North has limitations. Our organizations and volunteers are overwhelmed,” Black said. “If, as a society, we want to ensure the integration of such a large number of asylum seekers, we must give ourselves more ways to act, and have a short, medium and longterm perspective.”