Ottawa can accommodate up to 2000 refugees: Mayor
Posted Nov 25, 2015 02:29:11 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA — Mayor Jim Watson said Wednesday that on a per capita basis, Ottawa could accommodate between 800 and 2000 Syrian refugees, but says he does not have specific numbers yet for how many will be coming to the National Capital Region.
He also isn’t able to say exactly when they will begin to arrive, but he doesn’t expect it will take long.
“I know that the government is trying to get the first plane loads coming next week, I believe late next week,” Watson said Wednesday. “They would be going to primarily Montreal and Toronto as the first points of entry, dealt with in terms of health concerns and so on, and I suspect we’d probably see, a week after that. we would start to see some refugees in our community.”
As for where the refugees would stay, social housing is not on the list.
“We have a waiting list for people getting into affordable housing, so that’s not one of the options we’re looking at,” said Watson. “We’re looking at private stock that’s available. We’ve had some offers from some organizations that have housing units – for instance, a group that has 40 housing units, winterized cabins, in the Kanata area that may be available to us. Places like Uplands might be used on a temporary basis if we need help along those lines, but it would be primarily private units that are available, and there are units available throughout the city.”
Watson will meet next week with Refugee 613, community groups, and volunteers to prepare more for when refugees are brought to Ottawa.
