The popularity of Roxham Road is undeniable: as soon as it reopened on November 21, after almost two years of closure, this passageway on the sidelines of the Lacolle border crossing was used by a record number of asylum seekers, which which causes significant delays in processing times, has learned The duty.
According to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), 835 people entered Quebec irregularly during the last week of November, when the road reopened, and 2,875 did so in December — this month alone. winter concentrating 68% of irregular arrivals for the whole of 2021.
IRCC has not yet released the data for January 2022, but, according to our sources, the migration flow would be at least equivalent. Some days would even come close to 200 interceptions per day, as many as some days in the summer of 2017, when the massive influx of Haitians had triggeredBecause of a housing crisis in Montrealwhich had led the authorities to requisition the Olympic Stadium.
Since this exceptional summer of 2017, when the months of July and August had welcomed respectively 3,000 and 5,500 asylum seekers who entered via Roxham Road, it is the month of December 2021, with its 2,875 interceptions, which holds the record. of the busiest month.
According to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), people who entered irregularly since November 21 came mainly from Haiti, Colombia, Turkey, Chile and Nigeria.
“We had a meeting with IRCC, which confirmed to us [la recrudescence]. Indeed, the Haitians are in large numbers,” said Marjorie Villefranche, director general of the Maison d’Haïti.
According to her, it is the sudden reopening of Roxham Road, closed by the Trudeau government in March 2020, which causes this increase in the movement of migrants, when usually the winter months are not the most popular. “They’re probably like, ‘Let’s hurry up before it closes again.’ »
Mme Villefranche is careful, however, to make a comparison with the summer of 2017. “The figures are important, but it is the peak of a single month. For the moment, it does not worry us too much. »
Once their application for refugee status has been summarily processed by customs officers in Lacolle, unvaccinated newcomers are now sent to hotels in Montreal and the crowns to undergo quarantine. Others can continue to go to the YMCA on Tupper Street, where all asylum seekers are usually taken.
“What bothers us is that most are sent to hotels where there are no services or structure to help them. They are left to themselves, notes the director of the Maison d’Haïti. We see mothers arriving with their children who have no clothes [d’hiver]. At the YMCA, they are given coats, but in the hotels, they have nothing. »
A recent meeting between IRCC and the Round Table of Organizations Serving Refugees and Immigrants (TCRI) took place to reassure the parties involved on how this upsurge was going to be managed. Stephan Reichhold, the director of the TCRI, seemed satisfied. “Overall, it’s much better managed,” he said, adding that lessons have undoubtedly been learned from the summer of 2017.
Delays of almost eight months
The pandemic context and the large volume of asylum seekers entering via Roxham Road complicate the task of immigration officers, who can no longer process a file in one day despite reinforcements from other Canadian provinces. According to information obtained by The dutyat present, people who apply for refugee status must wait almost eight months before knowing if their file is deemed admissible, a delay that is similar to that of the summer of 2017. 14 months before an application is heard before the Immigration and Refugee Board.
“It takes a long time for people to get their brown paper,” observes Marjorie Villefranche. In the jargon, this “brown paper”, or “brown sheet”, is the precious document which certifies that a person has applied for asylum and which allows the latter to have access to certain privileges, including a work permit. .
According to the Regional Program for the Reception and Integration of Asylum Seekers, the public body in Quebec that welcomes and provides services to people applying for refugee status, people do not need to have this document to have access to social assistance and health insurance.
The Quebec Minister of Immigration, Jean Boulet, said he hoped that asylum seekers would integrate into the labor market “as quickly as possible”, given the significant labor needs. “To do this, the federal government must speed up the process leading to the granting of work permits for these people,” he said. At the time, the Trudeau government
He also recalls that the reception capacity of Quebec “is not unlimited”. “We therefore expect the federal government to respect its commitment not to overload our resources, which are necessary for welcoming refugees”.
Mr. Boulet also insists on the fact that the Quebec government has no control over the management of borders and Roxham Road. He nevertheless indicated that his government had “collaborated with Ottawa in maintaining the resources necessary to support asylum seekers” despite the fifth wave of COVID-19.