Refugee numbers spike
Citizens of Iraq and Colombia among the hundreds of asylum seekers crossing at Niagara’s borders
The Canada Border Services Agency says 433 people made refugee claims in January at southern Ontario border crossings, including Niagara’s bridges.
It’s part of a spike in the number of asylum seekers CBSA officials have been seeing in recent months, including 447 who made claims in December.
Citizens of Colombia led the number of refugee claims at CBSA land ports of entry in 2016 and 2015, at 632 and 535 respectively.
Citizens of Iraq led the number of refugee claims in 2014, with 432.
There have been several reports lately about a growing number of refugee claimants crossing the United States border into Canada illegally.
In February, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said 21 people crossed the border illegally near a Manitoba community which has seen a surge in asylum seekers. The RCMP said the people asked to make refugee claims and were taken to the CBSA port in Emerson, Man.
The RCMP also said more than 450 people made refugee claims at the Quebec border in January.
Many have speculated the rash of refugee claimants are due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
CBSA spokeswoman Diana Scott said CBSA is responsible for designated ports of entry and the RCMP is responsible for in-between ports of entry.
“For the CBSA, all refugee claims are treated in the same way whether it was made by a person who presented themselves at one of the CBSA designated ports of entry offices or brought to the CBSA by the RCMP because they were caught crossing the border illegally between ports of entry,” said Scott.
The southern Ontario region of the CBSA encompasses Windsor, Sarnia, London, Fort Erie and Niagara Falls, as well as surrounding communities.
The region’s largest ports of entry include Ambassador Bridge, Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, Blue Water Bridge, Peace Bridge, Queenston Bridge and Rainbow Bridge.
Jeff Burch, executive director of the Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre, said his group is “scrambling” to deal with the increase in refugee claimants.
“I just got another call about a family that’s in a hotel in St. Catharines, refugee claimants,” he said.
“We had a couple of weeks ago a family that came from California. The lady had a sister in Mississauga and we had to actually go over the border, get them from Buffalo airport, put them up in a hotel and make an appointment at the Canadian border for them to come across on the Safe Third Country agreement (between Canada and the U.S.).”
Burch said the family from California just received a deportation notice and the multicultural centre, which has an office in St. Catharines and in Niagara Falls, was able to help them get into Canada the same day they would have been deported.
“We’ve got people that we’re putting together as a group so that when we get these calls, we can help these people get across the border,” he said.
Lynn Hannigan, director of Casa El Norte, a Fort Erie organization that runs a transitional home for refugees coming into Canada, said they work directly with the border when it has people that need shelter.
“We have a record number of turn-aways simply because we don’t have space,” she said.
“We’re also getting calls from Toronto and other areas looking for space because they are full also.”
Hannigan said Casa El Norte helps refugees with temporary shelter, food, paperwork, legal aid, get them into English as a Second Language classes and their children into schools.
She said the increase in refugee claimants started before the “Trump era,” going back to the summer.
“The shelters were filling up in
Refugee applications at southern Ontario land border ports of entry
3,865: 2016 (largest number was 447 in December) 2,742: 2015 (largest number was 303 in October) 2,601: 2014 (largest number was 321 in September) Toronto at that time, but it’s just increased since then.”
Hannigan said the current political climate in Washington, however, has “definitely” led refugees and undocumented immigrants to consider their options.
“I have no way of knowing how many have been (from) the United States and just want to leave, but there has to be a huge number,” she said.
“We don’t see them here because the only way to get here at this location is through the Peace Bridge. They’re the exceptions that have to have a relative in Canada to enter.
“These people that are coming to Manitoba and Quebec borders, they have no choice because they don’t have a relative in Canada, or an anchor relative.”
Niagara’s border crossings are surrounded by water, but Hannigan said refugees in the past have crossed the Niagara River illegally by boat.
“We’ve had somebody that came across the river below the falls. Terribly dangerous, but desperate,” she said. rspiteri@postmedia.com Related story on page A7