Montrealers welcome asylum-seekers
City gathers to show support as Olympic Stadium becomes shelter for refugee claimants
MONTREAL— Several hundred people shouted “refugees welcome!” in Creole as they gathered outside Montreal’s Olympic Stadium on Sunday to show support for the waves of asylum-seekers crossing the border from the United States.
Members of the group stood on a hill near the entrance to the stadium, waving signs and balloons and chanting messages of welcome.
“We are here with them, to support them and to help them establish themselves,” organizer Serge Bouchereau told the crowd through a megaphone.
“This is a vast, rich country that can welcome many, many people who are in bad situations and can’t stay in their own countries.”
Olympic Stadium is one of several venues that have been transformed into a temporary shelter to accommodate some of the refugee claimants, whose numbers have soared in recent weeks.
The city of Montreal says between 250 and 300 people are now crossing the Canada-U.S. border to seek asylum every day, up from 50 per day in the first half of July.
Many of those crossing the border, such as 32-year-old Adline Tidas, are of Haitian descent.
In the United States, the Trump administration is considering ending a program that granted Haitians socalled “temporary protected status” following the massive earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010.
“(Canada) looks like a good place, I’m supposed to be here,” she said.
Several in the crowd said they had come to Canada as immigrants themselves and wanted to show their support for the newcomers.
The event was organized by Solidarité sans frontières and the NonStatus Action Committee, both of which are calling for open borders and the regularization of undocumented immigrants.