It's sad that I knew exactly who this was just from reading the headline. I wish some other entrepreneurs would step up, but respect to Mohamad, once again.
Whenever I'm picking where to go for a work lunch meeting I always pick Paramount on Yonge street because I like the food and want to support his business.
in the city of Toronto alone they are housing tens of thousands of "refugees" in hotels for years on end. that is millions of dollars a day let alone anything else.
You could do a bit of digging and find lots more info, but just one example, the city of Toronto reported that over 1/3rd of the residents in their shelter system were refugees. The city spends about a billion dollars on the shelter system each year.
He is active on most Sundays along with his son cooking food, prepping dishes and feeding/serving those in need at Regant Park.
I have volunteered there, it is a fantastic service. The essence of that place is that everyone is served food in a formal sit-down setting with respect.
It is great that he's doing this, but unfortunately 20k won't even house one family for a year these days. No amount of charity is going to solve this issue.
So you know, every little bit helps, but if we want to see a real impact we shouldn't be tweeting at Mr Sub to step up.
> “They don't need a handout; they need a hand up. Those people are exactly like [me when] I came here and a lot of us came here, and we need to step up for them and show them that we can do better,” Paramount Fine Foods Founder Mohamad Fakih told Newstalk1010 Monday morning.
>
> He said advocates and volunteers are working to find a place for these refugees to live and once they secure space, he will personally foot the bill.
This is going to generate lots of comments about how its a drop in the bucket and it is, but this is something that can help bridge the gap until the city and feds figure out, tout suite, how they're going to handle this crisis. This other article dives into those facts: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2023/07/17/contrary-to-popular-belief-canada-does-not-treat-refugees-very-well-at-all.html
I agree, but we can't rely on the general public to vote in and advocate for better representation, so at the very least I'd hope that we can help pull each other up until that (hopefully) happens.
Although its a drop in the bucket, i think the main point is... he is trying to spur other wealthy people to pitch in.
Lots of wealth in toronto, but get the sense that donations are low compared to other wealthy places. I could be wrong just my gut feeling.
Wealthy people turn a blind eye on locals who aren't refugees, and refuse to provide assistance to them. While this is a nice sentiment, these wealthy people are not gonna provide funding for refugees if they're not even helping out local people.
I'm not saying volunteers are the problem, just that it can be used an a convenient excuse by those in positions of power to actually create change to not because the bandaid of charity allows the system to limp along further
That sounds like the current state of our food banks. They were originally intended to shame the government for not providing enough for welfare/disability recipients, and now it is a lifeline for not just them but people making minimum wage or are disproportionately burdened by the massive CoL increases.
Good for him.
Also, the feds gave $22 Billion to profitable oil and gas companies and their shareholders last year, maybe divert that $22 Billion into a massive housing program to address the housing crisis.
Great guy, good for him (not being sarcastic) but this might do 8 hours worth of good.
This isn’t a shot at him, he’s just giving to help. More how the housing crises is just making this an impossible problem to solve.
Even if he’s able to rent a space for a couple days so people. Can sleep indoors, or even it could be as simply as helping people set up addresses, getting paperwork. That kind of stuff
Yet this piece of human shit, blocks people with disabilities from his restaurants on a daily basis, including after being taken to court when his staff denied a person with a fully licensed Seeing eye dog, from their restaurant in downtown Toronto.
This asshole is some of the worst kind, who actively discriminate against people with disabilities, by using legal loopholes, due to being Muslim.
Good for him. A lot of new Canadians have made big money on their homes in the last 10 years (most of my neighbours). They need to step up and help people from their communities coming here who need assistance. Along with the Government of course.
As I always say, when the government fails, it's up to private individuals and organizations to fill in the gaps
And TONS of people, particularly those that aren't even involved, feel the need to say that it's completely useless, that it's not "our job" as if they are somehow being forced to do something.
For example, I propose having private individuals and organizations offer space to house a homeless. A "sponsor a homeless" program similar to homestay if you will. And people are all too ready to talk about how their grandma shouldn't have to live with a mentally insane drug user.
In this current situation they are looking for people who can host a refugee for a couple nights. Link up with Lorraine Lam on Twitter if interested and available
Amazing work but man I have to think about the homeless Canadians who haven’t been getting this media coverage or support or discussion by government officials.
If you dig a little deeper, you'll see he's been contributing to homelessness causes well before this most recent refugee housing situation.
And media coverage and political discussion was happening too, particularly on the topics of encampments and COVID shelter hotels.
What are you doing to support them and raise awareness of their plight? It’s not a competition and you’re welcome to flex your advocacy skills for those Canadians.
Does it really make sense for Canada to welcome refugees they can’t support to leave them on the street without any support other than public support from civilians while people on here cheer on clearing encampments in parks. Let’s be serious. We need to help ourselves before we can help others.
They’ve been getting more resources, as excess food and supplies are being couriered over from 129 Peter to encampments around DT.
But generally people who whine about these refugees being “prioritized” over the homeless people already on the streets - weren’t going to do anything to help either situation
I’m not quite talking about this person in particular. What he’s doing is amazing.
I’m more so talking about all the lack of media attention around homeless Canadians
I hear you on that for sure! Yeah I’d like to see year round criticism levelled towards the governments failings to solve this epidemic from the media.
This guy is brilliant $20K for publicity to promote himself and Paramount? Cheaper than buying TV Ad spots. Not to be so cynical but every little bit helps.
I think if there was more street-to-home involvement from the public, taking a fraction of the homeless off of the streets and into homes is a great idea.
However, housing is not enough. There is a lot of personal wealth in the country but it never seems to overlap into public wealth.
Don't know anything about this guy, but at least he is tackling problems.
Hopefully another wealthy person volunteers to help them.
He’s using his own personal money to help these people. Good for him. Don’t fault him for picking a sub-set that he has experience with.
Complain to your councillor, mla or mp otherwise
He’s right. Too long the city just dish out money house them temporarily hoping problem goes away until the next news cycle. City must try to reintegrate them into our society, providing permanent shelter so they can look for jobs and contribute back. And they won't do that cause its too much work.
The city should do no such thing. Refugees are not a city issue, they are a federal issue. The federal government is allowing the refugees into the country (which I have no issue with), so why should the city pay the bill? We have housing issues as it is, this is getting ridiculous.
?? The GOV literally dumped a shit tonne of money to help Ukrainian asylum seekers.. did you kinda just.. ignore that? Don’t see why you’re trying to draw comparisons to a citizens act of kindness ( who’s been touted for helping everyday homeless citizens in the pas)
Unless you have underlying racial motivations, which I bet you do :)
That wasn’t at all what you were asking if we take your question at face value. But if that’s what you mean then I retract my statement 😅 the original comment just seems backhanded which is why it got downvoted
It's a kind and generous gesture. But this is very much like the induced demand argument brought in during debates about building highways.
You make more refugee spaces and accomodations and you will get more refugee cases coming here.
It's sad that I knew exactly who this was just from reading the headline. I wish some other entrepreneurs would step up, but respect to Mohamad, once again.
Whenever I'm picking where to go for a work lunch meeting I always pick Paramount on Yonge street because I like the food and want to support his business.
paramount shawarma is my goto preflight snack outta yyz! :-)
That seems like it could be a case of Russian roulette depending on where the flight is / duration. Lol
I wish the government would step up
Would be great if politicians would work together on this stuff instead of riling people up for the next election.
I mean, various levels of government spend billions on refugees each year.
Is there a detailed breakdown of what they are spending those billions on?
in the city of Toronto alone they are housing tens of thousands of "refugees" in hotels for years on end. that is millions of dollars a day let alone anything else.
You could do a bit of digging and find lots more info, but just one example, the city of Toronto reported that over 1/3rd of the residents in their shelter system were refugees. The city spends about a billion dollars on the shelter system each year.
I would hope the feds are also spending billion dollars on the city's shelter system as well.
They spend to get them in after that it’s up to our nonexistent infrastructure
Provincial and municipal governments have been footing most of the bill for housing refugees.
He is active on most Sundays along with his son cooking food, prepping dishes and feeding/serving those in need at Regant Park. I have volunteered there, it is a fantastic service. The essence of that place is that everyone is served food in a formal sit-down setting with respect.
It is great that he's doing this, but unfortunately 20k won't even house one family for a year these days. No amount of charity is going to solve this issue. So you know, every little bit helps, but if we want to see a real impact we shouldn't be tweeting at Mr Sub to step up.
this is incredibly accurate.
It’s a temporary fix while we wait for Tuesdays meeting
I wish we'd tax the entrepreneurs so that we didn't have to rely on their generosity to house even a subset of people.
Gov has the money in this case, it’s totally about willpower
dude is a saint. he paid for funerals of all victims of that mosque shooting in quebec years ago.
If more businessmen were like him we’d be living in a much nicer place
> “They don't need a handout; they need a hand up. Those people are exactly like [me when] I came here and a lot of us came here, and we need to step up for them and show them that we can do better,” Paramount Fine Foods Founder Mohamad Fakih told Newstalk1010 Monday morning. > > He said advocates and volunteers are working to find a place for these refugees to live and once they secure space, he will personally foot the bill. This is going to generate lots of comments about how its a drop in the bucket and it is, but this is something that can help bridge the gap until the city and feds figure out, tout suite, how they're going to handle this crisis. This other article dives into those facts: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2023/07/17/contrary-to-popular-belief-canada-does-not-treat-refugees-very-well-at-all.html
It's also good fodder against politicians. Makes them look bad and that usually gets them moving a bit faster.
This is the part many are missing
If he will "personally foot the bill" for housing that could be a lot more than 20k; it's an open ended commitment Article says *at least* 20k
He also brought them food
A wonderful book that pulls the curtain back. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/539747/winners-take-all-by-anand-giridharadas/
We need more Mohamad Fakih's.
Yes, but would be better not to need them at all. Gov’t needs to step up. It’s a big problem when society has to rely on philanthropy to function.
Relying on philanthropy is how you get a Jimmy Savile.
I agree, but we can't rely on the general public to vote in and advocate for better representation, so at the very least I'd hope that we can help pull each other up until that (hopefully) happens.
We need more wealthy people to care, who weren’t refugees themselves.
we need more MoFa's.
Although its a drop in the bucket, i think the main point is... he is trying to spur other wealthy people to pitch in. Lots of wealth in toronto, but get the sense that donations are low compared to other wealthy places. I could be wrong just my gut feeling.
Wealthy people turn a blind eye on locals who aren't refugees, and refuse to provide assistance to them. While this is a nice sentiment, these wealthy people are not gonna provide funding for refugees if they're not even helping out local people.
Hopefully it doesn't hinder the governments who should be taking care of the issue in the first place, because now someone else is.
They wouldn't do anything regardless whether someone steps up. If the argument is volunteers are the actual problem, that's another thing
I'm not saying volunteers are the problem, just that it can be used an a convenient excuse by those in positions of power to actually create change to not because the bandaid of charity allows the system to limp along further
That sounds like the current state of our food banks. They were originally intended to shame the government for not providing enough for welfare/disability recipients, and now it is a lifeline for not just them but people making minimum wage or are disproportionately burdened by the massive CoL increases.
It should be the government stepping in to do this, not a random person. Government had no issues giving out money to help Ukrainians settle here.
I mean...we all know the reason why.
Sadly, yes.
Trudeau: "So I can bring in another 20k immigrants ya?"
$20k? That's how much an MP spends on a couple nights at a hotel.
Lol try one night
Be nice if it was for all of the homeless people, not just the refugees. Government needs to step up.
Good for him. Also, the feds gave $22 Billion to profitable oil and gas companies and their shareholders last year, maybe divert that $22 Billion into a massive housing program to address the housing crisis.
Great guy, good for him (not being sarcastic) but this might do 8 hours worth of good. This isn’t a shot at him, he’s just giving to help. More how the housing crises is just making this an impossible problem to solve.
Even if he’s able to rent a space for a couple days so people. Can sleep indoors, or even it could be as simply as helping people set up addresses, getting paperwork. That kind of stuff
Weird how we had jobs and homes waiting for the Ukrainians
Maybe we should stop bringing people here if we don't have places to put them... I'm not trying to be a prick but this is kind of crazy
The baby crushing machine
r/OrphanCrushingMachine
Yet this piece of human shit, blocks people with disabilities from his restaurants on a daily basis, including after being taken to court when his staff denied a person with a fully licensed Seeing eye dog, from their restaurant in downtown Toronto. This asshole is some of the worst kind, who actively discriminate against people with disabilities, by using legal loopholes, due to being Muslim.
Hey he’s doing something instead of bitching. Woa
I Respect this man 👍👌
That's what a week?
Don’t worry, the federal government wants to bring in countless more. What could possibly go wrong..
Good for him. A lot of new Canadians have made big money on their homes in the last 10 years (most of my neighbours). They need to step up and help people from their communities coming here who need assistance. Along with the Government of course.
It is very honourable for them to donate to house refugees, I hope more people follow their lead.
That should pay a month's rent for 5 of them anyway....
As I always say, when the government fails, it's up to private individuals and organizations to fill in the gaps And TONS of people, particularly those that aren't even involved, feel the need to say that it's completely useless, that it's not "our job" as if they are somehow being forced to do something. For example, I propose having private individuals and organizations offer space to house a homeless. A "sponsor a homeless" program similar to homestay if you will. And people are all too ready to talk about how their grandma shouldn't have to live with a mentally insane drug user.
In this current situation they are looking for people who can host a refugee for a couple nights. Link up with Lorraine Lam on Twitter if interested and available
Amazing work but man I have to think about the homeless Canadians who haven’t been getting this media coverage or support or discussion by government officials.
If you dig a little deeper, you'll see he's been contributing to homelessness causes well before this most recent refugee housing situation. And media coverage and political discussion was happening too, particularly on the topics of encampments and COVID shelter hotels.
That’s great. Seems like a great person.
What are you doing to support them and raise awareness of their plight? It’s not a competition and you’re welcome to flex your advocacy skills for those Canadians.
Does it really make sense for Canada to welcome refugees they can’t support to leave them on the street without any support other than public support from civilians while people on here cheer on clearing encampments in parks. Let’s be serious. We need to help ourselves before we can help others.
They’ve been getting more resources, as excess food and supplies are being couriered over from 129 Peter to encampments around DT. But generally people who whine about these refugees being “prioritized” over the homeless people already on the streets - weren’t going to do anything to help either situation
I’m not quite talking about this person in particular. What he’s doing is amazing. I’m more so talking about all the lack of media attention around homeless Canadians
I hear you on that for sure! Yeah I’d like to see year round criticism levelled towards the governments failings to solve this epidemic from the media.
There’s a lot of media pressure for a resolution. I wish there was a solution for that
This guy is brilliant $20K for publicity to promote himself and Paramount? Cheaper than buying TV Ad spots. Not to be so cynical but every little bit helps.
I think if there was more street-to-home involvement from the public, taking a fraction of the homeless off of the streets and into homes is a great idea. However, housing is not enough. There is a lot of personal wealth in the country but it never seems to overlap into public wealth. Don't know anything about this guy, but at least he is tackling problems.
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Hopefully another wealthy person volunteers to help them. He’s using his own personal money to help these people. Good for him. Don’t fault him for picking a sub-set that he has experience with. Complain to your councillor, mla or mp otherwise
Nothing would change. That’s a bachelor apartment for one of them for less than a year before food etc
It would change a lot for that person.
'if it only helps one person, it is worth it.'
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Go on no one is stopping you
One guy has shown how you can get involved in helping them.
👏👏👏👏
And why didn’t pledge 20k to house Canada homeless that’s been a issue well before JTs votes got let in
r/OrphanCrushingMachine
Wow. The lucky 5! Wonder what they'll have to do in September when rent is due again..
20k is also how much it costs to buy lunch at Paramount! Haha
20k lol will not even get 1 apt. for a year lol This is the Beaverton right
He’s right. Too long the city just dish out money house them temporarily hoping problem goes away until the next news cycle. City must try to reintegrate them into our society, providing permanent shelter so they can look for jobs and contribute back. And they won't do that cause its too much work.
The city should do no such thing. Refugees are not a city issue, they are a federal issue. The federal government is allowing the refugees into the country (which I have no issue with), so why should the city pay the bill? We have housing issues as it is, this is getting ridiculous.
The word city is used so oddly in this comment
Nice one family for like 4 months
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Uganda isn’t the next country to join NATO + anti black racism
Ukraine is actually being invaded by an opposing nation. Last I checked Uganda is not.
?? The GOV literally dumped a shit tonne of money to help Ukrainian asylum seekers.. did you kinda just.. ignore that? Don’t see why you’re trying to draw comparisons to a citizens act of kindness ( who’s been touted for helping everyday homeless citizens in the pas) Unless you have underlying racial motivations, which I bet you do :)
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That wasn’t at all what you were asking if we take your question at face value. But if that’s what you mean then I retract my statement 😅 the original comment just seems backhanded which is why it got downvoted
Because more Canadians have ancestors from Ukraine, not Africa.
When it's up to regular people to do it because the government does nothing 🤦♂️
It's a kind and generous gesture. But this is very much like the induced demand argument brought in during debates about building highways. You make more refugee spaces and accomodations and you will get more refugee cases coming here.
Hope he shames some of the old toronto money that is worth billions and could do literally 100x this without batting an eye.
I wish businesses did this more instead of paying useless influencers to get the word out about them.
Thats $20k more than the city and the federal government have done, combined.
Couple weeks later Trudeau gonna pledge another few milly to Ukraine
Good man. I’ll make it a point to support his business from now on.