Montreal’s Welcome Hall Mission grocery store service offers food support to asylum seekers

Welcome Hall Mission has been offering its grocery store service to asylum seekers in Montreal amidst a recent increase in asylum claims at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing into Quebec from the United States. It’s called Marché Bon Acceuil and has two locations in the city — one in Montreal-North and the other in Saint-Henri. 

“Sometimes people need food, and it’s very hard to be starving, so it’s really a good place to get groceries,” said Edgar Martini, an asylum seeker from Mexico.

“I’m alone here in Montreal. I’m asking for asylum. And moments like this, when I don’t have work, it’s very important to have a place to get some help.”

According to the Canada Border Services Agency, they have processed 5,246 asylum applications in Quebec from the beginning of this year until April 6th, compared to 11,118 for the same period last year. This translates to a reduction of about 53 per cent fewer claims this year.

However, a recent surge of asylum applications at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing — 557 in the first six days of April — has brought attention to asylum seekers and others trying to immigrate into the province.

“Well, about 50 per cent of the people who would access our free grocery stores are new arrivals in the city. Now, new arrivals can be somebody who came through the regular immigration system. It can be Ukrainians who’ve been fleeing the war. It can be asylum seekers. It can be refugees,” explained Sam Watts, CEO and executive director of Welcome Hall Mission.

“We probably are looking at somewhere between 10 and 15 per cent of that number that are asylum seekers.” 

The free grocery store service is part of a larger effort that helps feed about 8,000 Montrealers each month facing food insecurity. People who are registered come bi-weekly to do their groceries for free. They can select the food they would like, which ranges from a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, frozen meat, and other healthy foods.

“When somebody comes to our door and says I’m hungry and I don’t have food, we have a policy whereby we give them food right away, but if they want to keep coming back, if they want to come back and make this a regular thing, then we have to understand some things about them first of all to know that they have a place to live,” Watts explained, adding, “second, we have to know what their income level is because there’s a standard in Canada that’s set by Statistics Canada that we follow and so if somebody falls below the poverty line then we’re able to serve them.”

The service is based on household income, and asylum seekers are also eligible to take part, as access to certain support can be limited for those who have filed asylum claims.

“When I was living in my natural country, the violence was very hard and the cartels were very, very, very hard. People like me need the help of other countries like Canada, like Quebec, in this situation, and I’m so grateful,” said Martini.

Watts says, “A lot of people who come here are coming here very temporarily. They’re not going to be staying with us for very long because most of the people who are new arrivals in the city are people from the middle classes in the countries where they were able to leave because they had the resources to be able to get out, and so they’re pretty innovative people. They’re pretty creative and they’re pretty determined, and so after a while, most of these folks are going to be able to contribute to Canadian society in a meaningful way.”

Marché Bon Acceuil — that gives away about 1.7 million kilograms of free food every year — is a doorway to entry for other wraparound supports such as a free dental clinic, rental support, and other services to help families and others to find work. 

“We need programs like these, the asylum seekers. People in situations like mine need to know that they are not alone. We are not alone. There’s always something able to help us. It’s good,” said Martini.