General Chat

And we can close an airport better than anyone else so don't be jealous :-)

In Toronto they always have people ready to rent so they can be fussy !!they don't want to be stuck with no one paying the rent in one year it seems.

As for the army .....here we go again. ...yes we called them in but there was no where else to put the snow we'd had loads that winter. .....we're a rather large city with Millions trying to move around. ...and it wasn't the Ford brothers that time but Mel lastman
:-D

well, there isn't much problem on this side, or anywhere else that I've heard.

Must just be Toronto ................... they often do strange things there :-D :-D


Close the airport with 2" of snow .............. been caught in that one :-D


Call in the army when 10" snow falls


Rob Ford


his brother Doug

"No one will rent to them." Why?

Cbc.ca are covering this story just a different angle. No one will rent to them.

we haven't heard one word of any such problem on this side ................

and we watch most of Global News National, Global BC 6 pm, and then CBC News Network after 7 pm.

There have been many reports from Toronto and other parts of the country on Global National, and on CBC News Network, if not so many on Global BC


Perhaps people just do not want to seem to be complaining about that group, especially as it is Armenian (100th anniversary and all that)

I didn't say that CTV were not being factual just find it curious that our national network is not covering it.

Can't say why not. If ctv weren't being factual i think someone would have pointed it out by now.they've been running the story for over a week.
for those that don't know cbc is the national station ctv have local stations around the country.

Curiously there's been nothing on CBC news about this problem. I was just watching another report about the refugees there and no mention of the Armenian Church problem.

That seems to be the case but like i say i think this group have bitten off more than they can chew so to speak. Whether their members failed to follow through with their promise or whether it wasn't thought out correctly time will tell. A lot of the others have been sponsored by family and literally put up in their own homes/basements.

Caroline .............


do you mean that all the groups sponsoring refugees in Toronto are complaining, or is it just the one group, the Armenian church (if I remember correctly what you posted earlier?), with lots of other groups quietly getting on with it.

It's not just one guy it's the whole organisation/church for Toronto.

DET ..............

that's true ......... there was no time frame for accepted refugees because the old government was refusing to give its final permission. So, yes, no surprise that they did not set up accommodations, buy food, furniture, etc

But those private groups are supposed to have the money BEFORE they apply for permission to sponsor a refugee. The money should have been in the bank before they knew they had been approved and that refugees had been found.

There is a process they have to follow.

That money should still have been in the bank, even after many months waiting

That's why I wonder about that guy in Toronto.

I think ctv keeps going back to them because they are taking in so many people. They offered to take in how ever many it was. ...let's say 1000 then before they did that they should have made sure they had funding to rent places for 1000...they agree they have clothes that's easy in the whole scale but they don't have the money it seems.i get they wanted to help as many as possible as quick as possible but it's not responsible to not be honest with the finances. Renting somewhere to live in Toronto is not cheap but there are places available if you can pay. Also of course for the short term there are hotel rooms.

In all likelihood, the countries who sat back and watched thought the conflict would be all over by Christmas (or Ramadan or Eid!). The mass migration to Europe this year has focussed their attention.

From what has been mentioned on this thread, although some of the immigrants were expected, there was no timeframe. You wouldn't buy your fresh sprouts 6 months before Christmas 'just in case' it arrived early.

I just don't get this 'rushed' business, it's only rushed because countries have just sat back and watched the crisis happening for FOUR years...it's a bit like how some people find Christmas a rush, and yet they have had a whole year to consider it's next arrival?

I do appreciate that finding homes ( especially in cities which already tend to be stretched) is difficult, but it can hardly have come as a surprise.

Caroline ...............


we don't get much news from Toronto such as you are quoting. We get the western Canada news, from BC and Alberta, and there seem to be no problems.

All the groups are well-organised.

They might only just be cleaning and furnishing the apartment or house, but that is to be expected .......... who can afford to sit with an empty house or apartment for months? But the money is there, they have many of the supports in place, including translators, they have the apartment or house now.

As for the medical .............. all provinces have the same problem with finding family doctors, BUT there are special clinics being set up in many places that doctors will take turns in staffing. At least, that is happening on this side, and I think also in Ontario.


There are ways and means.

After all, many Canadians use walk-in clinics :-)


It does make me wonder whether CTV found that one group or spokesman "good TV copy", and now go to him time and time again, regardless of whether he is accurately representing ALL groups.

............. some reporters do like nay-sayers :-)

Agreed...but again CTV news has been quoting this group since before the first plane landed so this in itself makes you wonder how rushed it is in some cases as they don't seem to have checked the groups can actually fulfil their part of the bargain. So far at least they seem to have pledged to take the most people for the Toronto area and yet clearly they didn't have the room/houses etc for them.

The Government ones will be in disused hospitals in Toronto for instance for the short term.

By the way good luck getting family doctors for them in Toronto most aren't taking new patients......not being negative just being honest

I think there is concern about finding housing for the GOVERNMENT sponsored refugees when they arrive ............ but there is little or no problem with the ones now arriving, the privately sponsored refugees.

The groups sponsoring them have to provide furnished accommodation for 1 year, a minimum of $20,000** (or is it $27,000) for a family of 4 for the first year, and emotional, mental and physical support for 1 year, including finding schools for the children, help with learning English (or French in Quebec), learning a new way of life, registering with a GP and finding other medical help as needed, etc etc.

I think some of these groups, or members of these groups, are about to find just how much is involved in the latter "support"

If the group does not yet have accommodation or funds, then it is their fault for being slow ......... especially as most of the groups have known that they have been accepted to receive a refugee family for many months. They just have not known when "their" refugees were going to arrive.







for the UK'ers, that's about £9,000 (£12,000) a year

Not directly but there's a strong inference.......