RCMP nab more than 1,100 illegal border crossers
OTTAWA Data released Tuesday shows that the RCMP have arrested nearly half as many illegal border crossers in three Canadian provinces this year as they did in all of 2016.
Figures provided by the federal government show that in the first two months of this year, the RCMP intercepted 1,134 people — 677 were in Quebec, 161 in Manitoba, 291 in British Columbia and five in Saskatchewan.
Statistics previously provided by the Immigration Department had revealed 2,464 were apprehended in 2016 at three unofficial crossing points in Quebec, Manitoba and B.C.
Of those stopped in 2017, 476 were arrested in January and 658 in February, an increase that prompted renewed attention from the Opposition on Tuesday.
“Canadians are tired of the Liberals inaction and denial. Where is the plan?” said Conservative public safety critic Tony Clement.
“When will the Liberals finally take action and regain control of our borders?”
Public Safety Minister Goodale said the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency have all the resources they need and all laws are being enforced.
“We’re watching it very carefully and doing the contingency planning based on a number of factors that may change in the weeks and months ahead to try as best we can to anticipate what may happen in the future and to be ready for it when it does arrive and if it does,” he said.
While the RCMP arrests illegal border crossers, how many of them actually go on to lodge asylum claims in Canada is hard to track. Processing asylum claims is the work of the CBSA and the Immigration Department and in their statistics they don’t separate out how an asylum seeker arrives.
The difference in the statistical approaches has created confusion around the extent of the illegal border crossing issue and where it fits in the overall number of asylum claims being filed in Canada, which is what prompted the data release on Tuesday.