Ottawa gives some asylum-seekers in Cornwall an extension on deadline to move out

After a month of fear and uncertainty, some asylum-seekers staying in a conference centre in Cornwall, Ont. now have another 60 days to find alternate housing.

Robert Coulombe, executive director of the Roy McMurtry Legal Clinic in Cornwall, said a representative of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) told a community meeting on Thursday that the centre will remain open for 66 identified clients but food will not be provided to them.

On July 3, IRCC told the DEV Centre in Cornwall that it would not be renewing the conference centre's contract, meaning everyone would have to move out by July 31.

The department said 490 asylum seekers were living at the DEV Centre as of last week, but the numbers can fluctuate from day to day.

Coulombe said IRCC told the community meeting that 77 clients have either left the centre already or are set to go on to other IRCC-funded accommodations in Niagara Falls or Windsor.

«Yesterday [July 30], we saw the first buses leave, either for Niagara or Windsor, leading asylum seekers to an uncertain future. It was heartbreaking to witness,» said DEV Centre president Jean-Pierre Poulin in a letter.

Coulombe added that while IRCC said about 400 other asylum-seekers have found housing options in Cornwall, community stakeholders are worried about their living conditions.

«We are concerned that IRCC's definition of 'housed' claimants could mean people are left couch-surfing, living in cars, living in substandard units, or without proper leases. This would not meet IRCC's commitments to us as a city, nor their responsibilities to claimants themselves,» a Cornwall city representative said in a media statement.

Coulombe said he's heard of people living in what he called conditions of «hidden