The Ontario NDP is hoping the provincial government will request sanctuary status from the federal government.
Giving Ontario sanctuary status would give all refugees access to government services while they wait for their citizenship to be finalized.
"Anybody who is coming here [as a] refuge would be entitled to access to government services regardless of their citizenship, or where they are in the citizenship process," says MPP for Windsor West Lisa Gretzky.
In a letter to Premier Kathleen Wynne, the NDP also requested Ontario lobby the federal government to lift a cap on private refugee sponsorships of 1,000 this year.
"We have people coming from other countries where they are seeing and living through some horrible things, and we want to make sure that they understand that they can come to Canada and feel safe," says Gretzky.
Gretzky says despite the sanctuary status, all refugees coming into the country and province would still be subject to a vetting process.
"Anybody that comes into our country or into our province goes through some kind of approval or vetting process. That would not change just because we are asking for a sanctuary province status," says Gretzky.
