Jim Diodati expects hotels/motels will be ready for tourism season
There isn't too much concern from Niagara Falls' mayor the rise of asylum seekers housed in area hotels will impact the upcoming tourism season.
Jim Diodati says federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser told him this is the week when we should see a leveling off of numbers.
"He said the average stay in transitional housing is 40 days. They try to do a skills assessment to find out if there jobs they can fill, try to make we're doing ESL, so English as a second language training," he says.
The mayor adds migrants from all over the world are coming through Quebec, from the US, with many local community groups stepping up to help.
Diodati also confirmed Niagara Falls is just one place in Canada helping asylum seekers.
He says this can't be completely put on this community. "And the minister said they're taking a Team Canada approach, where some of them will be re-located to the Maritimes, and other areas of Canada, so that everyone can do their part to help out."
The mayor adds many schools are using their gyms as classrooms as asylum seekers put their kids in school.
As for the number of migrants arriving in town, the mayor says that number is always changing. He says at latest count 1,700 hotel rooms are booked, and with an average of three people to a room, one can do the math on that.
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