Asylum Seekers Support Program (ASSP) 

 Are you a woman or gender-diverse asylum seeker or refugee claimant looking for support in your settlement journey? Our Asylum Seeker Support Worker can help.

We provide a range of services to help you settle into your new community, including: 

We offer: 

Individual and group sessions on housing, education, health care, transportation, social services.

Referrals to other community agencies and government services, including immigration services, legal services, housing, school boards, health and social services. 

Assistance filling out forms and applications:
• Ontario work and ODSP 
• Social Insurance Number (SIN)
• Ontario Health Card (OHIP) 
• Temporary residence documents (Work, study permit application and renewals)
• Other government forms/ application

YWCA Hamilton staff can only assist with form completion. For consultation and advice on your application, please visit here.

Legal Aid Ontario provides legal assistance for low-income people | Aide juridique Ontario fournit des services d’aide juridique aux individus à faible revenu.

Assistance with referrals and appointments, and connecting with other services like:

• Employment
• Doctors & dentists
• Driving test
• School enrollments
• Banks

• Hospitals
• Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ Support
• Language Support
• Legal Aid

In-person services at 75 MacNab Street South, and online services via telephone, MS Teams, and Zoom, are available on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

In order to be eligible for the Asylum Seekers Support Program, participants must:
• Identify as a woman, gender-diverse, or non-binary persons with precarious status (people born in a country other than Canada and whose immigration status is temporary neither permanent nor guaranteed, e.g. migrant workers, asylum seekers, people on temporary resident visitor visa on government’s special measures from war zones)
• Be an Asylum seeker, Refugee Claimant, or otherwise qualify as a person from conflict zone on temporary status.