Salvation Army adds dozens of new beds to help newcomers
The Salvation Army has added 80 new beds to help the many newcomers seeking asylum in Winnipeg.
The organization made the announcement on Wednesday, saying that the number of refugees coming to the city since January 2023 has increased by more than 400 per cent.
By adding these new beds, the Salvation Army is hoping to relieve some pressure from its Centre of Hope, which shelters more than 400 people on an average night.
“We were averaging over 120 refugees a day as a static number,” said Mark Stewart, executive director of the Centre of Hope.
“So that’s men, women, non-binary, as well as children…what we wanted to do is just open up more beds in an emergency shelter setting just to provide more space for people that are coming in.”
The Salvation Army’s Centre of Hope is staffed 24 hours a day and offers access to meals, resources, caseworkers, washrooms and showers. Newcomers can go to the intake centre, located at 180 Henry Ave., where they are able to access refugee claimant and newcomer services, including housing and employment support, as well as residency assistance.
"At the end of the day, anybody’s who is coming into the community, we just want to make sure they’re safe,” Stewart said.
“This is a safe space, away from regular emergency shelter, where they can be together in a similar situation.”
According to numbers from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 185 asylum seekers were processed in Manitoba in January 2024. In January 2023, that number was 35.
- With files from CTV’s Joseph Bernacki.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Man or machine? Toronto company finds a way to determine how real audio clips are
The Toronto-based research arm of life sciences technology firm Klick Health has found a way to analyze voices in a manner that’s so granular, it can tell whether it's a person or an artificial intelligence-powered machine.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Fire at a baby care centre kills 7 infants in India's capital, a fire officer says
A fire broke out in a baby care center in India's capital Saturday night, killing seven infants, a fire service officer said.
More seniors are using homeless shelters. Here's why, according to experts
One of the country’s homeless shelters has seen an uptick in the number of people through its doors, including more older adults over 50.
The death toll in Kharkiv attack rises to 14 as Zelenskyy warns of Russian troop movements
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Sunday that Russia is preparing to intensify its offensive along Ukraine's northern border, as the death toll rose to 14 in an aerial bomb attack on a large construction supplies store in the city of Kharkiv.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels freed over 100 war prisoners, the Red Cross says
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Sunday released more than 100 war prisoners linked to the country’s long-running conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
No sign Canada has a plan to reach NATO defence spending target: U.S. NATO ambassador
The U.S. ambassador to NATO says she has seen no indication that Canada has a plan to reach the NATO spending target of two per cent of GDP on defence.