Ottawa Has Spent $769M on Hotels, Meals for Refugees and Illegal Immigrants in 2023

Records show room and board for illegal immigrants at one Québec border crossing cost the equivalent of $1,220 per person.
Ottawa Has Spent $769M on Hotels, Meals for Refugees and Illegal Immigrants in 2023
Asylum seekers cross the border at Roxham Road into Canada on Feb. 9, 2023. The Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz
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Federal funding of hotel rooms and meals for refugee applicants and illegal immigrants cost $769 million this year, with the length of hotel stays ranging from weeks to months, according to the Department of Immigration.

“There are two mechanisms of funding. The first one is the interim lodging sites, which are the hotels,” said Nathalie Manseau, chief financial officer for the immigration department, during her testimony at the Senate National Finance Committee.