For five months, 16-year-old Mudasar Haidary has been left with little to do other than scroll through social media on his phone while stuck in a refugee hotel.
Unable to enroll in school, like other Afghan refugees now in Canada, his family's paperwork hasn't been completed by the federal government. Sitting on a park bench in Mississauga, Ont., he shared his frustrations.
“We come here to have a safe life, we should be happy, we should (get an) education, we should go to school,” Haidary told CTV National News.
The oldest of four brothers, the teenager and his family are staying in a refugee hotel west of Toronto, where for weeks CTV National News has been investigating concerns from refugees.
Families have spoken about being stuck in the hotel for nearly a year and claim they’re segregated from areas of the hotel where paying guests frequent. Multiple refugees families were assigned to find a rental home with a real estate agent who is facing a sexual assault charge. One family claims they were told they had to move into a semi-detached home that was rundown and overpriced, even though they found nicer and cheaper accommodation that would save taxpayers thousands.
Following CTV National News’ multiple investigations, this week Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) sent a large delegation of federal employees to the hotel to meet with staff from Polycultural, the organization hired by the government to help resettle and care for refugees at the hotel.
In an email, the IRCC was asked what their plans are to fix the alleged issues plaguing these refugees.
“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is very concerned by these troubling allegations. We can confirm that when these allegations came to light, Polycultural immediately terminated business with the individual in question," the statement reads.
"IRCC works closely with service provider organizations to safeguard refugee clients and to ensure they have access to the services they need when they arrive in Canada including support to find permanent housing."
The IRCC added that providers "do not hesitate to take the appropriate action when allegations such as these come to light, in order to protect the safety of our clients.”
The IRCC didn’t provide details on what was discussed in the meeting.
As the IRCC arrived on Wednesday, multiple refugees claim that for just one day, better quality food was served and a colourful school bus showed up for the kids.
Polycultural executive director Marwan Ismail told CTV National News in an email that “the bus was brought on site as part of a children's activity and it's the second time in two weeks that it visits our site. Twice a week we organize various activities - whether it be off site or at the hotels - as part of our program.”
However, multiple refugees claim it was the first time the bus ever appeared.
“The bus was just for show, for only 20 minutes, children were allowed to go inside the bus, and then after that they were told to come down the steps and leave,” claims the teen. Shortly after that he says the bus drove away.
Haidary says he dreams of becoming an engineer here in Canada. Though he’s received no clarity on his families refugee claim.
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