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So far this year, the RCMP has captured 7,013 asylum seekers who have crossed into Quebec illegally from the United States.
Author of the article:
The Canadian press
Jacob Silver
Publication date:
May 11, 2022 • 14 hours ago • 4 minutes reading • 112 comments Asylum seekers cross into Canada from the US border near the Roxham Road checkpoint near Hemingford, Quebec, Canada, April 24, 2022. Photo by REUTERS / Christine Muschi
Content of the article
MONTREAL – Quebec is asking the federal government to close a popular, unofficial border crossing south of Montreal because the province can’t handle the number of asylum seekers entering the country, but refugee advocates are rejecting Quebec’s demands.
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More than 100 refugee applicants enter Quebec every day from the United States on a rural road called Roxham Road, Prime Minister Francois Lego told reporters on Wednesday.
“This is unacceptable,” Lego told the legislature. “It’s impossible because we don’t have the capacity.”
The federal government is taking 14 months to investigate an asylum application, while Quebec must shelter and care for future refugees and educate their children, the prime minister said.
“We can’t afford to provide services,” Lego said, adding that if the current pace continues, Quebec will not have adequate housing for the 36,000 newcomers.
However, refugee advocates say they do not accept the prime minister’s statement.
“What is Quebec’s capacity for compassion?” For justice? It may not be unlimited, but the capacity is there, “said Paul Clark, interim executive director of Action Refugies Montreal, in an interview Wednesday.
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Clark, whose group sponsors and offers refugee services, said that while it may be difficult for asylum seekers to find shelter in Montreal, he did not think the situation was better in other Canadian cities.
Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Refugee Council, said many people who crossed the Roxham Road border found work in long-term care homes in Quebec during the pandemic.
“Not only do we have the capacity, but we actually need more people,” she said in an interview Wednesday.
Part of the problem, she said, is the length of time it takes the federal government to issue work permits to asylum seekers.
“The federal government could make things a lot easier just by giving work permits shortly after people arrive so they can get to work and there are a lot of jobs that could be very useful,” Dench said.
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In Montreal, 1,049 refugee applicants are currently being housed in shelters run by a regional health program that seats about 1,150 people.
“We are busy, but the situation is stable,” Carl Terio, a spokesman for regional health authorities in west central Montreal, said in an email Wednesday.
The irregular Roxham Road border checkpoint reopened in November after being closed during the pandemic. Since the beginning of the year, the RCMP has intercepted 7,013 asylum seekers who have crossed into Quebec illegally from the United States. That number has increased from 4,246 last year.
In 2019, more than 16,000 asylum seekers were caught by the RCMP after irregularly crossing into Quebec.
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FIRST READING: At least the illegal border is open again
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Lego said many of those who cross irregularly may not be able to stay in Canada in the end.
“You have to understand, the problem is that many of these people are not really refugees,” he said. “A refugee is a person who is physically at risk in their country. But the majority are not refugees; in the end, when the file is analyzed, they get rejected and go home. “
Clark said it was impossible to determine which refugee candidates would be successful. – To say that half of these people will fail, well, which half, Mr. Lego? he said.
“If he says that, then he acknowledges that people are coming to Canada and they really need protection. So how do you know which half? “
Under the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States of 2004, applicants for refugees who enter Canada outside the official port of entry must be processed in Canada and cannot be returned immediately to the United States. official entry points, however, are sent back to the United States
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Dench said closing the Roxham Road entry point would simply encourage people to move elsewhere – making it harder for the federal government to process asylum seekers.
“The reason they are concentrated in Quebec is simply a matter of geography, because there is a large land border between the United States and Canada that people can cross,” Dench said, adding that many asylum seekers are leaving Quebec for other provinces while waiting for their claims. to be processed.
Federal Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino told reporters on Tuesday that a balance must be found.
“Resources have been provided for this particular border issue,” he said. “We are also in discussions with the United States to regulate the movement of all asylum seekers. This is part of a strategy to protect the rights of refugees, while protecting the citizens of Quebec.
Asked about talks with the United States later Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters, “We will always continue to adhere to the principles of our immigration system. We have a strict system that will continue to do its job. “
This Canadian Press report was first published on May 11, 2022.
– With files from Siddhartha Banerjee in Montreal and Jim Bronskill and Michelle Saba in Ottawa.
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