Addressing the migrant crisis is everyone’s job

Ontario’s new Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Lisa MacLeod, apparently believes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is entirely responsible for Canada’s illegal migrant crisis.

Speaking in the wake of the province’s announcement that it will not support any efforts aimed at resettling any migrants who crossed the board illegally, MacLeod said, “It’s not up to Mayor John Tory nor is it up to Premier Doug Ford to pay for the commitments made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He was the one who tweeted out that everyone is welcome here, and as a result of that, we’ve had thousands of people who have crossed the border illegally and it’s putting a strain on many of our public resources.”

Granted, Trudeau’s all-are-welcome-here tweet was not ideal. But since he did that, federal officials have travelled to migrant hot spots in the U.S. and as far away as Africa to deliver the real message: there is a process for applying to settle in Canada, and anyone wanting to do so needs to follow it.

The fact is that while Trudeau’s actions played a role, they’ve long been overtaken by other more significant factors. Last year, Donald Trump’s decision to arbitrarily end temporary protection status for Haitian expatriates resulted in 20,000 of them seeking asylum status in Canada.

So far this year, the RCMP has intercepted more than 9,400 asylum seekers along the Canada U.S. border, mostly in Quebec. Many have travelled through Mexico and the United States. Some are no doubt not legitimate refugees. But the majority are. That’s what MacLeod and her boss, Doug Ford, don’t seem to understand.

Entertaining refugee applications is not a courtesy. Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms stipulates people have a right to apply and to a secure and supportive environment while their claim is being adjudicated. Further, Canada has international obligations through United Nations protocols and policies that require legitimate refugee claims to be treated with respect.

It makes no sense for the province to continue saying, in effect: “Not our problem, you deal with it” to the feds and municipalities. Prior to Ford’s reneging on earlier resettlement commitments, there was a plan to establish a “triage centre” with provincial co-ordination aimed at diverting refugees to places other than Toronto to lessen the strain on systems in that city.

Now that Ontario has pulled out, that plan is off the table. The federal government didn’t get burned by that, but Toronto did, and Torontonians can thank Ford for that.

That’s a common theme around Ontario’s new position on the migrant crisis. Ottawa won’t get hurt, but municipalities will. Whether in Toronto or other centres, refugee claimants will still seek and are entitled to financial support waiting for their cases to be adjudicated. Now that Ontario has said it won’t pay a dime to assist, what it is really doing is downloading the problem onto municipal governments. They’ll still have to provide the services, but they won’t get any assistance from Queen’s Park even for programs that are provincially mandated. Again, who is being hurt here?

Canada’s refugee claimant crisis and backlog is everyone’s problem, and all levels of government have a role to play. Picking up your ball and going home, as Ford and MacLeod are doing, isn’t a defensible option.

Last year, Donald Trump’s decision to arbitrarily end temporary protection status for Haitian expatriates resulted in 20,000 of them seeking asylum status in Canada.