AN UPDATE FROM CANADIAN PRESS:
OTTAWA—Haitian-Canadian MP Emmanuel Dubourg travelled to Miami on Wednesday to try and counter misinformation which has driven thousands of Haitian asylum seekers to Canada in recent months. His trip comes as both the prime minister and Liberal cabinet ministers have sought in recent days to more forcefully address the major spike in illegal border crossings this summer, which has strained public resources and tested traditionally widespread support for Canada's immigration system.
Dubourg, a Liberal MP for a Montreal-area riding, was appointed last week to a newly established federal-provincial task force focusing on how to handle upwards of 7,000 people who've been stopped illegally crossing into Canada since June, the vast majority intent on seeking asylum.
In the last two months, many have been Haitian and Dubourg sees himself cast in the role of ambassador. He's already used his extensive connections with the Haitian diaspora and fluency in Creole for outreach there, he said. The next step is to take it on the road. “We have to go to the source,” Dubourg said Monday.
So he's going to Florida, to do Creole-language interviews and meet community leaders among Miami's Haitian diaspora. Not all those coming to Canada are from there, Dubourg said, but the city has more than 200,000 Haitians and a slew of influential media outlets.
The cold truth of Canadian policy, however, is that only about 50 per cent of Haitians who file for asylum in Canada receive it and the Canadian government has resumed deportations to that country.
“It's important to tell them that before they sell their things, before they take any kind of decision (to come),” Dubourg said. “They have to know full well what can happen.”
The startling spike in arrivals and how the government is handling them has prompted anti-immigration groups to start mobilizing across the country. A protest — and counter-protest — were held in Quebec City over the weekend and other rallies are being scheduled in Canada in the coming weeks amidst criticism being levied against the Liberal government that they are losing control of the border.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered some of his strongest remarks on the subject in response to the weekend's events, when he said “entering Canada irregularly is not an advantage. There are rigorous immigration and customs rules that will be followed. Make no mistake.”
Earlier last week I commented on the sudden increase of asylum seekers from the U.S. taking the illegal entry route into Canada at crucial points along the border, particularly in Quebec (see item below). At the conclusion of the post I sought explanations from readers on the sudden exodus into Canada, going so far as to request rational, unbiased and factual responses.
I cannot speak for Facebook, but I know for a fact that more than 90 individuals have viewed the item on my Wrights Lane blog, yet I have not heard from a single one. This suggests at least one of three possible scenarios: 1) People cannot, or are reluctant, to comment on political issues if they are unable to call on biased opinion; 2) while the populace is divided down the middle on the acceptance of illegal immigrants, there is a general confusion on the matter and the implications for Canada, or 3) nobody takes me serious and there is little merit in responding to anything I write or feedback I solicit.
The answer to my original question, of course, lies in U.S. President Donald Trump’s tough stance on illegal immigration that has forced many undocumented immigrants to live in the American shadows and, subsequently, to seek illegal asylum in Canada. The problem is, our Canadian government is doing nothing concrete to deter the practice of people entering Canada illegally. In fact, their silence on the matter — and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tweet in January welcoming all asylum seekers into Canada — has had the effect of encouraging the practice. And that’s most unfortunate
If only Justin had added the words "...providing they go through proper legal immigration channels open to them" and continued to stress that point. Entering Canada through unofficial border crossings is illegal, period. And the federal government should announce and reinforce that Canada does not condone such action. Otherwise, it undermines the very laws that we demand new Canadians follow when they settle here.
We either have secure borders or we don’t.
Of course once border jumpers have crossed into Canada illegally, it’s not a simple matter of arresting them and sending them back (at taxpayer expense) to the U.S. Under Canadian law, based on Supreme Court of Canada rulings, everyone in Canada has protection under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including the right to seek a refugee hearing.
No matter what action is taken by the federal government to crack down on illegal border crossing, there will always be some leakage. But that’s not the point. The point is, there is a growing number of people crossing the border illegally and the federal government, apart from setting up temporary living accommodations and bringing in more immigration staff to process the thousands of entries, has done little to discourage the practice, nor are they trying to find solutions with U.S. officials.
There are many options, including revisiting the Safe Third Country Agreement, that Ottawa could be looking at to discourage illegal crossing.
Under the STCA, asylum seekers must make refugee claims in the first safe country they arrive at. Under the agreement, Canada heretofore has considered the U.S. a safe country. As a result, asylum seekers fearing deportation in the U.S. who attempt to enter Canada at controlled border crossings are turned away. That’s why they enter illegally. Perhaps it’s time to change that to promote a more orderly system that encourages people to seek entry at controlled border crossings while discouraging illegal crossing. The Canadian (I hesitate to say Trudeau because he does not make decisions in isolation) government has so far refused to even discuss revisiting that agreement.
Canada has a long-standing reputation for its welcoming immigration policies...Asylum seekers are nothing new to Canadian soil. But a disregard for the rule of law currently on file is undermining our border security as we speak.
I am all for the humanitarianism that our welcoming Prime Minister is advocating, but as a country we can't have it all ways.
Nice guys uphold the law!...Even federal governments. Canadians ask for nothing else!
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