Closing Roxham Road won’t stop irregular migrants coming to Canada: Trudeau | 24CA News

Simply closing the Roxham Road border crossing in Quebec will result in a surge in irregular crossings elsewhere in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says.

He made the feedback to reporters in Richmond Hill, Ont., Wednesday, amid calls from the opposition and Quebec’s provincial authorities to rapidly shut the crossing resulting from a rising inflow of migrants coming into there irregularly.

Trudeau mentioned the one approach to “effectively” shut the crossing — which sits on the border of Quebec and New York state — is to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States.

“The only way to effectively shut down not just Roxham Road, but the entire border to these irregular crossings, is to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement, which is serious work that we are doing as a government right now,” he mentioned.

“We’re making real progress, but until we manage to do that, we need to continue to support our immigration system. We need to make sure that the resources are there, particularly for the province of Quebec that has been stepping up significantly in accepting people fleeing for a better life, people crossing irregularly, and we will continue to be there for Quebec.”

2:02Atlantic provinces provide to assist Quebec with Roxham Road asylum seekers

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre referred to as on the federal authorities Tuesday to shut the Roxham Road border crossing inside 30 days. Poilievre blamed Trudeau for the migrant surge, accusing him of encouraging irregular crossings at Roxham Road and of not addressing a backlog of refugee claims.

The Conservative chief additionally argued Trudeau had already demonstrated that Roxham Road could possibly be closed with out violating the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States through the COVID-19 pandemic, and urged the federal government to take action once more. During that point, all the Canada-U.S. border was shut down.

The Safe Third Country Agreement requires asylum seekers arriving in Canada or the U.S. to make their declare within the first nation they arrive in, and forbids them from first arriving in a single nation after which making a declare in one other. However, migrants who cross the border between official posts can declare asylum after they’re intercepted by police as they’re already on Canadian soil.

2:09Quebec calls on Ottawa to sluggish circulation of asylum seekers at Roxham Road

Trudeau mentioned “simplistic solutions” received’t correctly handle the issue.

“If Pierre Poilievre wants to build a wall at Roxham Road, someone could do that. The problem is we have 6,000 kilometres worth of undefended, shared border with the United States. … People will choose to cross elsewhere,” he mentioned.

“People can toss out simplistic solutions, that’s their right. But if someone wants to seriously solve the problem, you’re going to have to roll up your sleeves and do the work as we are doing.”

Poilievre’s feedback got here as Quebec Premier Francois Legault this week referred to as on Trudeau to make the Roxham Road crossings a prime precedence for subsequent month’s assembly with U.S. President Joe Biden, and to renegotiate the settlement.

He reportedly advised Trudeau in a letter on Sunday that the pact has pushed asylum seekers to Roxham Road, and {that a} renegotiated treaty ought to apply to all entry factors.

On Tuesday, the Globe and Mail revealed an English-language letter by Legault wherein he mentioned the variety of would-be asylum seekers coming into Quebec “has exploded,” pushing Quebec’s social companies to their limits. The premier additionally pitched different provinces to absorb a few of these migrants.

The public letter didn’t embody issues reportedly expressed by Legault in his letter to Trudeau that the inflow of migrants is threatening the French language in Montreal, or his request for extra money to pay for the prices of caring for asylum seekers.

1:47Asylum seekers: Quebec premier makes pitch to different provinces for closure of Roxham Road

Federal statistics present that greater than 39,000 individuals claimed asylum after they had been intercepted by the RCMP crossing Canada’s land border into Quebec in 2022, in contrast with solely 369 in the remainder of the nation. In complete, round 64 per cent of all asylum claims in Canada in 2022 had been made in Quebec.

Last 12 months’s numbers had been a pointy enhance from 2021, when 4,095 migrants had been intercepted on Quebec’s southern border.

Poilievre didn’t provide specifics about easy methods to handle the immigration backlog — which at the moment sits at greater than 910,000 functions — however did say cash could be redirected from policing Roxham Road to boosting the authorized immigration system, in flip lowering wait occasions.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser advised Global News in a press release that proposing to shut Roxham Road inside 30 days “without advancing a plan to manage the consequences will not solve the problem,” and would solely promote extra irregular border crossings elsewhere.

Fraser acknowledged that Quebec has confronted “immense pressure,” and mentioned that Ottawa has transferred hundreds of migrants elsewhere in Canada since final June.

A spokesperson for Fraser’s workplace clarified that so far, these transfers have been to Ontario, however a “pan-Canadian” strategy is within the works. The minister additionally inspired individuals who need to enter Canada to think about different methods to enter the nation.

— with recordsdata from Sean Boynton and The Canadian Press

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