Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown called for more federal help to shelter asylum seekers, saying a man who sought refuge in the Peel region died while sleeping outside this week.

Peel Regional Police said the man in his forties was found without vital signs in a tent in the Dundas East Street and Dixie Road area in Mississauga on Wednesday around 7:30 a.m., and the coroner considered the death non-suspicious, but a post-mortem was ordered by the police to determine the exact cause.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Thursday, Brown said urgent federal funding was needed to prevent other asylum seekers from dying in the region as winter approaches. Approximately 68% of shelter residents in the Peel area, or about 1200 people, are believed to be asylum seekers according to Peel region.

City Mayor Patrick Brown spoke to reporters on Thursday about the "pressure" the shelter system in the Peel region has faced since July with an increase in asylum seekers. This comes after a day of finding a dead asylum seeker in a tent in Mississauga.

Brown, accompanied by several local community leaders, said the shelter system in Peel exceeds its capacity of 500 people and houses nearly 1500 people.

He also said the municipalities cannot suffer a deficit, and this means that the pressure on the shelter system in the region has now turned the situation into a crisis. He said the region had not turned anyone away until this year.

Up to 150 asylum seekers sleep outside overnight in Peel.

Brown said up to 150 asylum seekers sleep outside every night in the Peel region, adding that there is an imminent humanitarian disaster without further federal assistance.

"This cannot wait another month. This cannot wait weeks," Brown said, adding: "What worries me is that if we don’t get immediate help next week, we will see deaths in our region."