Banners bashing migrants pop up
MONTREAL • More anti-migrant banners have popped up in Quebec, this time in Montreal where many asylum seekers are being temporarily housed.
The banners were posted at various sites either late Sunday or early Monday, including at the Olympic Stadium, where several hundred people who filtered across the border illegally are staying intemporary accommodation.
Far- right group Atalante Quebec claimed responsibility on Facebook, posting photos of masked members in front of about 10 banners they say were displayed early Monday.
Similar signs with the word # REMIGRATION appeared this month in Quebec City, including one on an overpass on a busy thoroughfare.
Olympic Stadium spokesman Cedric Essiminy said security guards snapped some photos of a banner before taking it down early Monday.
Montreal police Const. Manuel Couture says the hate-crimes unit is investigating. Couture says police will also check with their Quebec City counterparts.
Thousands of people seeking asylum have entered Quebec through illegal crossing points over the past several weeks, fuelling heated political debate in the province.
More than 6,000 people have crossed illegally into Quebec from New York since July, the vast majority Haitians. They’re believed to be fleeing an announcement by the U.S. government that it is considering lifting temporary protected status for Haitian nationals, meaning thousands could end up deported back to Haiti.
On Sunday, a right- wing group called La Meute held a demonstration in Quebec City to denounce the immigration policies of the federal and Quebec governments.
The federal-provincial task force charged with managing an unprecedented flow of asylum seekers is to meet Wednesday in Montreal.
While officials said this week the number of those crossing into Quebec has declined to about 140 a day from 250 a day last week, the federal government continues to ramp up its ability to process their claims for refugee status — and to be ready for a potential new spike in arrivals.
Haitians are not the only group in the United States facing a crackdown: temporary protected status for citizens from nine other countries is set to expire in the coming months and there’s no guarantee the U.S. will renew it.
Canada’s Immigration Minister, Ahmed Hussen, says he’s aware citizens from those countries could very well be seeking to tread the rocky paths over the Canada-U.S. border.
Canada doesn’t know if protected status will be lifted, Hussen said in an interview Tuesday.