Ottawa faces uphill battle to get support for asylum seeker centre [Video]

As the director of Refugee 613, Louisa Taylor knows better than most what people seeking refuge in Canada are facing. 

Federal policies have contributed to a surge in asylum seekers in the nation’s big cities, including in Ottawa, where they make up 60 per cent of people in emergency shelters. 

“There are more than 330 people sleeping on mats and cots in community centres, in hockey arenas. The majority of those are newcomers, and many of those newcomers are refugee claimants,” Taylor said. 

“There’s no question that the city has to do something and it has to do something soon, because that is not a dignified way for it to shelter someone.”

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The city has heavily relied on community centres for extra space, a strategy that deprives neighbourhoods of recreational services. 

Rooms are packed with …