For thousands of refugees, the chance to come to Canada is a dream, but for too many already here, their situation has become dangerously desperate. A refugee woman stabbed herself in the stomach, just below the chest, last week while meeting with a federal government official with Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Sitting on a park bench a day after being released from the hospital, Aziz Abusirdana tells CTV News, “I put a knife in my body because nobody cares. Seriously nobody cares.” For seven months she is stuck, living in a refugee hotel west of Toronto. She says she never intended to kill herself, but decided to stab herself in the stomach to try to get the attention of the federal government and the settlement agency who, for more than half a year, have been unable to help her find what she believes will it was a safe place to live. Abusirdana believes the government has failed her. Exasperated, she says, “If you [the government] know that there is no suitable place for me to stay because you have received me to come [to Canada]?” Growing up in Gaza, Abusirdana’s young life has been filled with trauma. She claims her father and grandfather at home have threatened to find and kill her. The 22-year-old ran away from home and was on a scholarship to an Algerian university, but says she had to drop out and flee to Canada amid fears her family had tracked her down with plans to kill her. Publicly, she does not share what led to her situation with her father and grandfather, but the incident left her traumatized, alone and isolated in a new country and unable to trust anyone. Her housing request is straightforward: her own bedroom and bathroom with a lock on each door. And she can’t live in a shared space with men. She says she has been shown nothing but inadequate apartments. Sometimes she has been shown the same place twice. The $1,100 a month she receives from the government will run out in five months, and having enough money to feed herself and put up a house in Toronto’s rental market has limited her options. Abusirdana says she even traveled to Ottawa to try to talk to Immigration Canada, but the trip solved nothing. “I suffered in Palestine, I suffered in Algeria, I didn’t think I would suffer here in Canada,” admits the distraught woman. CTV News asked Abusirdana if she was offered a therapist or psychologist to sit with them after she arrived in Canada. She says no, the only option presented was to pay $150 per session out of pocket, which she couldn’t afford. Abusirdana is the second refugee in a month to harm himself in the same refugee hotel. In mid-October, a father from Afghanistan decided to sew up his lips in protest. He and his family of eight have been living in the hotel waiting for the government to hand over their papers for more than 12 months. A few weeks after he took the drastic step, the federal government signed, sealed and mailed his family their paperwork. An advocate worries that more and more refugees are going to harm themselves in a desperate cry for help. “That’s what worries me,” says refugee advocate Mona Elshayal. “It takes a long time for people to find housing and they really have no hope. After months in a hotel with nowhere to go their mental health is rapidly deteriorating.” These troubling developments come as Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser announced his government’s plan to meet its “ambitious” goal of bringing 40,000 refugees to Canada from Afghanistan. So far they have brought in more than half of their goal. At a press conference this week in Toronto, Fraser said: “We will continue to lead the world in refugee resettlement. In each of the last three years, Canada has resettled more refugees than anywhere else in the world. In fact, Canada was responsible for more than a third of the total number of refugees resettled in the past two years.” But many newcomers who have spoken to CTV News in recent months say you can’t call it resettlement when you’ve left a large number of refugees stranded in a hotel on Canadian soil for six to 12 months, without a home. and undocumented, unable to work, go to school or pay taxes. As an advocate, Elshayal says she supports Canada’s efforts to bring refugees here, but not if they are “re-traumatized” by a “broken system.” Elshayal believes that “the program needs to be re-evaluated, they should consider moving the families to smaller communities where they will have the support and the ability to live on the financial assistance they are given. We need to provide mental health support because each of them needs their own.” The longtime advocate also points the blame to agencies hired by the federal government to resettle newcomers. An organization called Polycultural has been set up at the Abuirdana Hotel west of Toronto. Multiple CTV News investigations have uncovered several reported issues with Polycultural’s handling of the refugees it cares for at this location. The executive director of the resettlement agency, Marwan Ismail, was also at the meeting with a director from IRCC when Abuirdana stabbed herself in the abdomen last week. In an email, Ismail told CTV News, “We were shocked and saddened by what happened during our meeting with Aziza last week. Since then, we have scheduled a follow-up meeting with her to offer mental health support while we continue to work to find her a suitable home.” Advocate Elshayal was also at the meeting, after Abuirdana requested to attend. “She (Aziza Abuirdana) stood up during the meeting, she was very disappointed. I tried to talk to her, but she looked away and said something under her breath, then took the knife out of her pocket and put it in her stomach.” Continuing her recollection, Elsayal said: “He fell to the ground. I immediately got down and looked for something to put pressure on the wound and asked the multicultural guy to call 911. “I could feel that every time we met he was getting more and more frustrated. I have spoken to Polycultural and IRCC about the mental health situation at the hotel.” Doctors told Abuirdana she’s lucky the knife didn’t go deeper into her stomach. The 22-year-old says she has the same hopes and dreams as anyone her age. “I would like to complete my education. I want to work and have a nice job and have a chance to live a life. I deserve a chance at life, but right now there is nothing.” If you or someone you know is in crisis, here are some resources available. Suicide Prevention Canada Helpline (1-833-456-4566) Center for Addiction and Mental Health (1 800 463-2338) Crisis Services Canada (1-833-456-4566 or text 45645) Children’s Helpline (1-800-668-6868) If you need immediate help call 911 or go to the nearest hospital.
