UN monitoring asylum seekers crossing to Canada

OTTAWA (CP) — The United Nations refugee agency is keeping an eye on the situation at informal crossings along the Canada-U.S. border where dozens of people have been arriving in recent weeks in search of asylum.

But it’s the perception of what’s happening rather than the reality that troubles Jean-Nicolas Beuze, the agency’s representative in Ottawa, who spent a day this week observing people making their way through one such crossing in Quebec.

The border crossings are orderly and officials are following all the appropriate laws, said Beuze, who described seeing compassion demonstrated by police and border guards — some of whom even gave asylum seekers additional clothing.

“There’s not really any concern on this side for the Canadian authorities to be able to provide the protection which is necessary to those people,” Beuze said Thursday.

Nonetheless, there’s a risk that a false public narrative could form around whether Canada has the capacity to deal with an influx of new refugees, he warned.

“The Canadian population may have some perception of what’s happening in Canada which may not be matching the reality,” Beuze said.

“Perception sometimes becomes the reality and what we will not want is that it increases the fatigue of people, the sense they are shouldering the misery of the world.”

Opposition Conservatives have characterized what’s happening as people running across farmers’ fields illegally, a situation that’s dangerous for them and for Canada, and are calling for an increase in border enforcement to stop it.