Feds need to adjust rules in light of illegal border crossings

As refugees continue to make a bee-line for Canada from the continental United States, the federal government is demonstrating how there can be such a thing as too much caution.

But guess what? Winter is almost over. The treacherous trek to Canada will soon be a lot less dangerous, thanks to spring’s pending arrival. It’s an opinion shared by Janet Dench of the Canadian Council for Refugees.

“I think a lot of communities are in the process of thinking about that,” she said, also speaking recently with The Canadian Press.

It’s clear the federal government as a whole needs to prepare for the possibility of a looming spike in refugee claimants entering Canada between official crossings. Individual agencies already are. RCMP and border services have beefed up resources in such places as Emerson and Hemmingford, Que., another favoured makeshift entry point, about an hour’s drive south of Montreal.

But this means Mounties and border agents are being re-assigned from their usual duties — and the resulting staffing gaps might become untenable over the long term.

We might never know what sorts of shady characters were able to cross the border because agents were too busy arresting and processing asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, it was reported the province of Manitoba was to send additional EMS crews to the Emerson region to relieve the strain on local services.

That province has also vowed to provide more emergency housing and there other essential services to refugee claimants.

Non-government groups and individuals are stepping up, too: The Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, for example, is collecting funds to help provide food, shelter, clothing and other support for migrants.

Such interventions are welcome and necessary. Now, it’s time for the federal government take charge and take co-ordinated action.

It needs to ensure the refugee claims system doesn’t get even more backlogged with the additional arrivals.

There’s already been a more than 50 per cent increase in claimants from 2013 to 2015, rising from 10,751 to 16,914 during that time. According to a recent news report, there were 16,279 for the first nine months of 2016. Once the figures for the whole year are tabulated, it’s likely to reach 20,000.

The feds need to adjust rules and regulations to allow refugees to enter Canada properly and safely, as current laws inadvertently promote arrivals at unofficial, makeshift crossings.

They also need to work with American border officials and other U.S. agencies to cut off human smugglers at the knees.

Observable migration trend or not, the feds have their work cut out for them.