Niagara Falls tourist district dealing with influx of thousands of relocated migrants

The mayor of Niagara Falls is calling on the federal government to come up with a plan and provide resources for thousands of migrants staying in the city's tourist district.

The mayor of Niagara Falls is calling on the federal government to come up with a plan and provide resources for thousands of migrants staying in the city’s tourist district after entering Canada through the unofficial border crossing at Roxham Road in Quebec.

Jim Diodati told CTV News Toronto the number of migrants coming to Niagara Falls has been steadily increasing to around 3,000 since the summer because Ottawa has been relocating the migrants and booking more motel and hotel rooms.

“It started out as 87 rooms and now we’re shooting for numbers like 2,000 and more rooms, so that puts a significant strain on our systems,” Diodati said Wednesday.

Niagara Falls has a population of just under 100,000. Diodati said the city is willing to do its part and is helping new families with everything from warm clothes to food and learning English, but the influx is causing concern.

“May 24 is when we begin our tourist season and it just continues to escalate from there, so we need to have a plan moving forward,” he said.

“We know how many rooms they need today. We don’t know how many rooms they need tomorrow ... we don’t know where this is going to end.”

Quebec has been pushing Ottawa to do something about the imbalance of migrants arriving in that province who then go on to await a refugee claim.