Asylum seekers caught in dispute over shelter
Structures on Greenbelt land at Vaughan church site are illegal, region says
It’s not exactly what Joseph Nwaeze imagined his new home in Canada would look like when he fled Nigeria last October seeking safety and a better life.
At the moment, home for him consists of the top of a bunk bed in a 60-foot trailer he shares with at least a dozen other men. It’s one of four makeshift shelters on a sprawling Greenbelt property in north Vaughan owned by evangelical church Miracle Arena for All Nations that has been housing asylum seekers since last summer.
But for the 25-year-old, it’s better than the alternative.
“To be honest, if I didn’t find this place, I’d be sleeping maybe in the street,” said Nwaeze, who has been living in the trailer the past six months and works as a chef on the property. There are currently about 50 asylum seekers staying on the grounds. “I really thank God that when I came, I found this place.”
He says he came across Miracle Arena while searching online for housing after he landed at Pearson, and arrived at the property on Weston Road straight from the airport. When he was offered room and board for free, he took it.
Now, Nwaeze — and dozens like him — are caught in the middle of a dispute between the church and local officials, who say the housing structures set up on the protected Greenbelt land are illegal and contravene numerous bylaws and provincial regulations.
The church, meanwhile, says it is providing a safe haven for asylum seekers with few options for housing in York Region.
It’s a situation that highlights the struggle to accommodate asylum seekers in the 905 as the issue spills out of Toronto into the suburbs.
In Vaughan, local officials and advocates say suburban municipalities are ill-equipped, with no federal funding or resources to deal with this burgeoning crisis. The issue recently reached a breaking point in Peel Region, where two newcomers died this winter while seeking shelter.
In September, York Region council approved $4.3 million to operate two hotels in Vaughan and Markham to house around 235 individuals — most of whom were living at the church site. Since then, 46 adults and 14 children were able to find stable housing, said Patrick Casey, director of corporate communications for the region.
But some advocates say the hotels have been a piecemeal solution, and the closing of one hotel last week is putting even more pressure on stopgap places like Miracle Arena.
“Without a concise and clear plan, we are doing a disservice to asylum seekers,” said Shernett Martin, director of African Canadian National Coalition against Hate, Oppression and Racism (ANCHOR) Canada, which has been working with the asylum seekers in Vaughan.
Miracle Arena is a multicultural evangelical Christian church, registered as a charity and a non-profit, which holds almost daily in-person services for hundreds of congregants that are also broadcast online. The church leader, Prophet Dr. Kofi Danso, also has an international following, with recent religious conferences and events in the Caribbean. The Star has previously reported about legal disputes between Danso and a congregant.
According to a city staff report presented to Vaughan council last month, city officials and York Region became aware last summer that Miracle Arena was bringing refugees and asylum seekers to the property to live in newly installed structures on the site, built without a permit. Since the land is on the Greenbelt, new structures aren’t allowed.
Some of those structures include trailers with rows of bunk beds tented with blankets for privacy; buses with their seats removed stuffed with donations; and three vacant tiny wooden homes, which remain unfinished. In an Instagram post from last September, Danso shows a video of people building the homes and asks his viewers “wherever you’re watching from” to donate to help build 20 more. As of last month, only three could be seen on the property.
Isaac Oppong, Miracle Arena’s shelter director, said when church members first saw asylum seekers sleeping on Toronto streets during “evangelical trips” last summer, they brought some people to the Vaughan location. But soon, news of the church spread.
Oppong says he wants to work with the different levels of government on a solution to this issue. But until then, he doesn’t have any plans to stop sheltering newcomers at the church despite notices of infractions from the city about bylaw violations that include: illegal structures “considered unsuitable for housing any individuals,” contraventions of fire code, environmental infractions and public health standards for water and food preparation.
Oppong said some concerns, like water and food preparation on-site, have been resolved. But he’s unwilling to compromise on others, such as removing the housing structures.
“We’re still here,” he said, noting the city has not enforced the removal of structures on the property. “We do believe in being lawabiding citizens, but we don’t believe in being bullied.”
To accommodate refugees and asylum seekers in the future, he wants to build modular housing units — which the city says is illegal as the land sits on the Greenbelt.
According to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, it’s the job of the municipalities to enforce land use policies on the Greenbelt. The city said the enforcement question is still under investigation — and it has been working with the church to “ensure compliance.”
Oppong says it has relied on the generosity of its parishioners to keep the shelter going. Still, Oppong says they have “accumulated debt” in the process of providing housing and trying to comply with provincial orders. In December, two churches that initially opened their doors to newcomers last summer had to close their shelter spaces, citing mounting debt and dwindling government support.
In a staff report to council, Gus Michaels, deputy city manager, community services, told council, “Municipalities are assuming greater responsibilities as asylum seekers/refugee claimants need a range of supports, including services that fall under regional jurisdiction, such as emergency and transitional housing, income support and public health. Funding for these supports for refugees and asylum seekers arriving in the GTHA remains a major concern.”
But despite Miracle Arena’s tensions with city and provincial officials, the church’s Instagram shows multiple posts in recent months with Vaughan-area provincial cabinet ministers, MPPs and MPs participating in services and taking pictures with parishioners.
“It’s amazing that you can step in to help to manage (a crisis) … and still get labelled as though we’re not doing something good,” said Oppong.
In a news conference Thursday, Martin, with ANCHOR Canada, took issue with the region’s response to the crisis, alleging it’s been problematic, racist and piecemeal, with no real plan for integration or support.
“Regardless of which continent asylum seekers arrive from, their human rights and basic decency should be upheld,” said Martin, who along with Oppong pushed for an investigation into the treatment of asylum seekers over the past six months, and for a better co-ordinated plan for the future.
“We have seen a clear difference in the way African asylum seekers are being treated compared to other responses,” she said, referring to the treatment of refugees from Ukraine, who have been offered numerous government support and financial assistance.
The Red Cross told the Star Thursday it has “fully addressed” some concerns previously raised to them and is conducting an internal review in response to the new concerns raised by ANCHOR.
“The Red Cross takes all complaints very seriously and is committed to taking appropriate actions,” spokesperson Jason Small wrote in a statement.
York Region did not respond to the Star’s request for comment regarding the allegations.
The Vaughan hotel site was scheduled to shut down on Sunday, with some people either being moved to other hotels or to permanent housing over the past few weeks.
Oppong says it feels like people are just being shuffled around, and some of them will likely land back at the church.
“Demand will go up (for shelter), and also the agitation, because people are scared,” said Oppong.
Nwaeze says he is eager to truly start his life in Canada, but it’s impossible to know how life will be outside the gates of Miracle Arena.
“My plan is, I pray to God I get a job,” he said. “If the government provides a house, then I’ll move to the house. Then I can start a new life.”