MP wants entire Canadian border designated official port of entry

OTTAWA — The entire CanadaU.S. border should be designated as an official port of entry to help stop the flow of illegal migrants into Canada, says Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel.

Making such a change would give the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency more tools to deal with an ongoing influx of asylum seekers crossing the border at unofficial entry points in Quebec and Ontario, Rempel said in an interview Thursday.

“I just really feel that unless we address this issue this is going to be unending and it’s unsustainable,” she said.

Immigration advocates have been calling on the government to suspend the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement, which has been cited as a major factor in the spike of irregular border crossings.

The agreement prevents asylum seekers from asking for refugee protection when they present themselves at an official port of entry. They can only claim refugee status from inside Canada, which is why thousands have been crossing through unofficial entry points on foot.

If Ottawa doesn’t close that loophole, turning the entire border an official port of entry could offer an alternative solution, Rempel said.

But Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s office was quick to shut down the idea, saying it would create even greater problems and dangers along the 9,000kilometre border.

“It would incentivize people to cross at more remote locations and to evade detection by Canadian law enforcement so they can get to an inland immigration office and make a claim there,” said Goodale’s press secretary, Scott Bardsley.

“That would increase the risk to Canadians and asylum seekers alike.”

Concerns boiled over in Quebec this week over the mounting pressures caused by the tens of thousands of asylum seekers that have been pouring into that province over the last year.

Some officials are projecting a further 400 people a day could cross the border into Quebec through forest paths this summer to claim asylum in Canada — a situation Rempel warned will only exacerbate ongoing backlogs in the processing of refugee claims.