Refugees a crisis for Canadians, poll says
EMERGING AS WEDGE ISSUE AS TORIES ATTACK OTTAWA’S APPROACH
OTTAWA • The majority of Canadians believe irregular migration into the country has reached a crisis point, according to a new poll, suggesting immigration and refugees will be a major wedge issue in the 2019 election.
The survey comes as departmental estimates prepared for Canada’s budget watchdog show the federal government spent more than $85 million dealing with the influx of irregular asylum seekers during the last fiscal year, and faces a much larger bill this year as provinces call on Ottawa to cover their costs as well.
Submissions to the parliamentary budget officer, made as part of an analysis of the cost of irregular asylum seekers requested by the Conservatives in June, also show that some would-be refugees are now using “anchor relatives” recently arrived in Canada to enter the country through official ports of entry without being turned back by the Safe Third Country Agreement.
According to the new survey from the Angus Reid Institute, two-thirds of respondents believe Canada has taken in too many irregular asylum claimants for authorities to manage. The results also show nearly half of respondents overestimate the number of irregular border crossers Canada has received. The findings suggest “asylum-seekers and border security are areas of vulnerability for the Liberal Party,” according to the pollster.
According to the RCMP, 11,420 asylum-seekers have entered Canada between official border crossings from Jan. 1 to July 15, 2018. Last year, there were 20,953 irregular crossings, up from just 2,486 in 2016. The vast majority have entered at an unofficial crossing point in Quebec.
In total, the immigration department, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the RCMP and the Immigration and Refugee Board have estimated in submissions to the budget watchdog that they spent $85.5 million in 201718 to respond to the rapid increase.
That total will likely increase substantially this year — the immigration department alone is anticipating costs of close to $100 million, including $50 million Ottawa has promised for Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba to help cover housing expenses for would-be refugees.
The influx of asylum claimants entering the country between official ports of entry is largely due to a loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement, which requires that would-be refugees in Canada and the U.S. make a refugee claim in whichever country they get to first. The agreement allows Canada to turn away asylum-seekers from land border crossings, but not if they cross between official entry points.
However, CBSA says some irregular asylum-seekers are now acting as “anchor relatives” for family members once they enter the country, using another exemption to the Safe Third Country Agreement that allows those who have family members in Canada to claim asylum at official border crossings. “This means that these family members can present themselves at a port of entry and not be considered as irregular migrants,” the agency says in its submission to the budget watchdog. “Also they can’t be refused entry under the Safe Third Country Agreement.”
“I would like to know how many people have used that to date, and how many the government is projecting,” said Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel. “It’s something that the government has not discussed in terms of its budgetary figures at all, or in terms of its immigration figures.”
Ottawa is now facing pushback from provincial Conservatives, too. Last month, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government moved to wash its hands of the whole issue, accusing the federal government of encouraging “illegal border crossers to come into our country,” and demanding that Ottawa “foot 100 per cent of the bills.”
In return, the federal government has decided to funnel the $11 million it had earmarked to help Ontario with temporary housing costs directly to Toronto, bypassing the provincial government.