A memorial service was held Saturday for a Kenyan asylum seeker who died at a Mississauga shelter after ready hours within the chilly to get an area.
Delphina Ngigi, a 46-year-old mom of 4, got here to Canada on February 15 looking for a greater life for her household following the dying of her husband final December. She arrived on the shelter at 1767 Dundas Avenue East two days later searching for a spot to remain however was not admitted till 8 p.m. that evening after spending seven hours in -8 temperatures. On February 18 she suffered a medical emergency contained in the shelter and was taken to a hospital the place she later died.
Ngigi was the second migrant to die in Peel Area inside three months.
“She all the time mentioned be the change you need, if there was one thing unsuitable locally, she didn’t look forward to the leaders to come back and clear up it,” mentioned Delphina’s sister Wairimu Religion, recalling an occasion the place her sister began repairing a flooded highway in her neighbourhood, on her personal, out of concern for pregnant girls and the aged who lived within the space.
“She was the change she wished, and I’ll all the time keep in mind her for that, in addition to her love of individuals and infectious snicker.”
Religion says whereas her sister was not the primary particular person to die resulting from a scarcity of lodging at a shelter, she known as on the federal government to rethink their insurance policies and funds allocations in terms of the refugee scenario on the shelters. A name that was echoed by different group members.
“We’re calling on the federal government to step up, learn the way to assist these refugees as a result of they should be helped,” mentioned Rev. Susan Karanja. “Someone standing exterior ready for a shelter, it’s inhuman. We’re asking can they be handled higher. As a lot as our authorities is attempting, they need to do higher.”
Following Saturday’s memorial service in North York, Delphina’s physique will likely be repatriated again to Kenya.