An immigration fiasco in Canada

“Sometimes you need to sleep, too,” Normand Faille recently told CTV News. Faille is the fire chief in Lacolle, Que., a small community just a few kilometres from the Canada-U.S. border, and ground zero for an unfolding migration fiasco. In recent weeks, as many as 250 people a day have been illegally entering Canada from the United States. Lacolle’s tiny corps of 30-some-odd first responders simply can’t keep up with the emergency calls.

Some assistance has now arrived. Earlier this month, the Army erected a tent city to hold up to 500 migrants while their applications are processed. The Red Cross has brought in personnel and supplies. But, according to officials in Lacolle, military personnel and Red Cross workers aren’t directly supplementing the town’s emergency efforts. The costs of the crisis, in manpower and money, is still falling largely on them.

It’s a sorry situation, especially because it was predictable. Indeed, we predicted six months ago that the thennoticeable spike in illegal border crossings into Canada would likely only accelerate once warmer weather arrived. “(For) the first time in generations,” we wrote in February, “there is a real possibility of a genuine crisis on our undefended border with the United States. This is something the federal government must be preparing for.”

We also asked a series of questions: Were there enough police officers and border guards to manage any major influx? Did they have the right tools and equipment? Did we have enough officials to properly review and vet the migrants’ entry claims? “(It) is imperative that Ottawa be asking itself these questions,” we added, “and moving with determination and speed to address any gaps.”

If we were thinking about these issues six months ago, surely bureaucrats in Ottawa were — or ought to have been — too. Yet, this week, while announcing the construction of a new camp in Ontario and extra personnel for application processing, Transport Minister Marc Garneau told reporters: “One cannot anticipate this kind of event.”

Nonsense. It was foreseeable, many months ago. Now, hundreds of migrants have become thousands. Since the start of last month, 7,000 have come into Quebec alone.

The military is building tent cities, Montreal’s Olympic Stadium has become a refugee camp, and local first responders are overwhelmed.

Ottawa had every reason to believe this was coming. They had time to prepare. And now they act like tent cities, a stadium-sized refugee camp, and overwhelmed locals is the best they could do.