02/03/2026
Liberals said asylum hotels would end — internal records show plans to expand them
One section notes that Quebec refused to take any more asylum seekers, prompting federal officials to look for new communities to absorb the overflow.
Sheila Gunn Reid | February 02, 2026 | News Analysis | 1 Comment
The Liberal government publicly said it would end federal funding for hotels housing asylum seekers, calling the practice temporary and unsustainable.
But exclusive internal federal documents obtained by Rebel News through an access to information request show the Liberals were quietly planning to scale up the system instead — including new airport processing hubs, expanded hotel use, and new cities to absorb arrivals.
In July 2025, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced that federal funding for asylum seekers in hotels would end by September 30, 2025, saying the arrangement was “never meant to be permanent.”
However, internal IRCC planning documents released January 23, 2026 under the Access to Information Act tell a very different story.
The records include a proposal from the City of Toronto and the Canadian Red Cross to establish a permanent style “welcome hub” at Pearson Airport to manage the growing flow of asylum claimants.
The proposed hub would register asylum seekers before providing them with food, temporary shelter and medical care. It would also coordinate their transportation to hotels and other cities, while serving as a handoff point to NGOs and municipal services.
The costs were expected to be between $2.5 and $13 million for the Red Cross hub, plus an another $1.6 million for partner agencies.
The documents show Ottawa expected 2000 new asylum claimants per day and planned to expand hotel use to 60,000 rooms to accommodate them.
One section notes that Quebec refused to take any more asylum seekers, prompting federal officials to look for new communities to absorb the overflow.
Internal planning documents list Kitchener, London, Kingston, Mississauga and Hamilton as potential new destinations, in addition to existing placements in Ottawa, Windsor, Cornwall and Niagara.
Large portions of the records were censored under exemptions for cabinet confidences, federal-provincial relations and advice to ministers — indicating the plans were politically sensitive.
While Ottawa publicly promised to wind down emergency asylum housing, internally it was budgeting to institutionalize and expand it.
Publicly: end the hotels. Privately: build the system. And then lie about it all.
