Toronto hit with $50M class action lawsuit over decision to deny refugees shelter beds

Refugee claimants and asylum seekers gather outside Toronto's Central Intake centre at 129 Peter St. on Oct. 5. (Ken Enlow/CP24)

A proposed class action has been launched against the City of Toronto on behalf of refugees, refugee claimants, and asylum seekers who were denied access to shelter beds between November 2022 and October 2023.

The lawsuit was filed on May 30 by the Black Legal Action Centre, Lewis Litigation PC, and Stieber Berlach LLP, on behalf of 40-year-old Nigerian refugee claimant Wasiu Adekanmbi, who is a member of the Black and LGBTQ+ communities.

Adekanmbi arrived in Toronto on Sept. 11, 2023 and knew no one and did not have a place to stay, the lawsuit’s statement of claim said. He’s since found work and is now living in Niagara Falls, Ont.

It claims that, among other things, the city violated the plaintiff and the class members’ right to life, liberty, and security of the person as well as the right not to be deprived of these as well as equality before and under the law and equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination.

The lawsuit also charges that the city failed to uphold their rights under the Ontario Human Rights Code and breached the Access to City Services for Undocumented Torontonians policy, known as Access T.O., as well as the Toronto Shelter Standards.

“This action is for damages as a result of the systemic negligence, negligent misrepresentation, breaches of duty, breaches of the Human Rights Code, and violations of sections 7 and 15 of the Charter (of Rights and Freedoms),” the statement read, noting the lawsuit “arises from the systemic and intentional exclusion of refugees, refugee claimants, and asylum seekers” by the defendant “on improper and discriminatory grounds” in regards to the vast majority of available city shelter beds between the aforementioned time frame.

It further noted that the city had both statutory and Charter-based obligations and duties during that period (Nov. 7, 2022 to Oct. 1, 2023) and that it ought to have known that “restricting the availability of shelter beds for refugee claimants was discriminatory.”

“Despite this knowledge and the observable impacts once the policy was enacted, including the exposure of thousands of vulnerable members of our society to homelessness, insecurity, and other adverse effects, the Defendant failed to act promptly and reasonably to reverse its practices,” the statement of claim said, adding these actions were “systemically racist” as the city knew that many of the countries where the refugee claimants were from has large Black populations.

“As a result of the Defendant’s breaches, the Class Members suffered significant harms including but not limited to harm to their dignity, physical and psychological harm, and financial loss,” it said.

The lawsuit, which requires certification from a judge to move forward, also applies to those who received “erroneous” referrals to Service Canada and Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada for housing help.

It is seeking $50,000,000 plus special damages to be determined as the action progresses, Linette King, of Stieber Berlach LLP, told CP24.

“This amount is to be shared amongst the class members – we do not yet have a head count on class members, but we understand from the data that thousands of refugee claimants would have been turned away [between Nov. 7, 2022 to Oct. 1, 2023.]”

The City of Toronto, meanwhile, would only say that it has received the statement of claim and will respond in due course.

“We have no further comment as the matter is before the courts,” spokesperson Elise von Scheel wrote in an email to CP24.

Proposed lawsuit follows Ombudsman report on decision to turn away refugees from shelters

This proposed class action comes about seven months after a scathing report by Ombudsman Toronto that called out the city for its decision to turn away refugee claimants and asylum seekers from its emergency shelter system. That decision was reversed on July 19, 2023.

The ombudsman said that choice lacked fairness and caused harm, adding that the city erred in its decision-making and implementation process when it began referring refugees arriving at Toronto’s shelters to federal programs in June 2023. It would take two more months for the city to restore universal access to those in need of a shelter bed.

At the time the 129-page report was released, City Manager Paul Johnson disagreed with its findings, saying that he was “disheartened” by its “accusatory” tone and adding that it demonstrates a “lack of understanding of the context the city was in at the time” as well as the “roles and responsibilities of other orders of government.”

He later said that he would receive the report, however there would be no further action as its recommendations “require effort by staff” that is “beyond work the city already has underway.”

“I happen to disagree with some of the findings in this report and the need for us to action those recommendations,” he told reporters, adding that despite disagreeing with it, he respects the work of the ombudsman and its office.

Johnson went on to say that he’d “learn from [the report]” while continuing to “build a better shelter system here in Toronto.”

Toronto city council did not debate the ombudsman report at its December 2024 meeting, but did accept the vast majority of its recommendations at its March meeting.

With files from The Canadian Press