Proper rules being followed, Justin Trudeau says
While Canada is an open and welcoming country, proper immigration regulations are still being followed for the more than 6,000 asylum seekers who have entered Canada over the last two months, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says.
Trudeau was in Montreal Wednesday to meet with the newly formed Intergovernmental Task Force on Irregular Migration. The group is developing strategies to tackle the influx of asylum seekers entering the country. It includes five federal and provincial ministers from Quebec and Ontario, including federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Quebec Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil, as well as Liberal MP for Bourassa, Emmanuel Dubourg.
Trudeau said that multiple levels of government working together is essential in both reassuring the public that immigration regulations are being followed and “actually getting things done in a complex situation like this.”
Canada is able to demonstrate openness and compassion “because we have confidence in the rules in place and the processes and the rigour of our immigration system,” Trudeau continued.
During Garneau’s announcement from the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle temporary camp last Thursday, he emphasized the task force’s efforts to communicate with Canadian consulates in the U.S. to counter misinformation about Canada’s immigration process that is being spread on social media.
Dubourg will be travelling to Miami Thursday morning to meet with the Haitian community. He will be working with the U.S. and Creole media to dispel myths about Canada’s immigration process.
Patrick Lefort, Quebec regional director of the Canadian Border Services Agency, said last Thursday that about 85 per cent of asylum seekers entering Canada are originally from Haiti. Many Haitians are reportedly travelling into Canada after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to revoke their temporary protected status, beginning in January.
During his trip, Trudeau said Dubourg will be explaining that there are no long-term benefit to crossing the border irregularly, meaning through unofficial ports of entry.
While their arrival in the country and the beginning of the asylum application process might be faster, he said that “well-established principles, regulations and law” remain in place for those claiming refugee status in Canada, including immediate security checks upon interception by the RCMP.
In the week since its formation, the task force also received demographic information about those arriving in Canada, Weil said, including that about one third of asylum seekers are children.
That information is necessary to prepare the schools for an increase in incoming students, she explained. Because those in temporary housing do not have a permanent address and cannot register for school, the Ministry of Education will be offering lessons at the shelters, she continued.
Trudeau also explained that the task force will look into expediting the process for obtaining work permits and work with provincial governments on creating temporary work permits for asylum seekers.
The RCMP intercepted more than 3,700 asylum seekers at illegal border crossings in the first two weeks of August, surpassing the 2,996 interceptions during the whole month of July. But the number of people crossing into Quebec per day has reportedly diminished recently, from about 250 people per day at the beginning of the month to 140 people per day in the least week.
At the moment, there are about 600 people waiting at the temporary camp near the St-Bernard-deLacolle border, about 45 minutes south of Montreal, with 3,000 others waiting in shelters around the city for their hearings with the Immigration and Refugee Board.