The Quebec Minister of Immigration, Jean Boulet, did not hide his disappointment on Thursday at the refusal imposed on him by Ottawa in the Roxham Road file.
“[On est] disappointed, yes, agreed the elected caquiste Thursday noon, leaving the Blue Room. When we refer to the “rigor of the immigration system in Canada”, I’m sorry, but that’s not what we see on the ground.
The government of François Legault demands the immediate closure of the Roxham border crossing, in order to respect its accommodation capacities. According to estimates by the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, 35,000 asylum seekers will present themselves there by the end of the year. “It’s a colander; it is recognized internationally, deplored Minister Boulet on Wednesday. It can’t go on like this. »
So far this year, more than 10,600 migrants have sought asylum in Canada through the southern Montérégie border crossing.
End of inadmissibility
Ottawa’s response to Quebec’s request on Wednesday came quickly. Without committing to close Roxham, the federal government of Justin Trudeau ensures that discussions are going well with the United States to renegotiate the Agreement on safe third countries.
Entered into force in 2004, this pact authorizes Canada to refuse any asylum request made at an official post at the Canada-US border on the pretext that the United States is a “safe” country. Unable to pass through the customs posts that dot the longest land border in the world, migrants have historically been turned back to irregular crossing points such as Roxham Road.
“I know that there is progress with the resources that we have put on this point [de passage] especially at the border,” Federal Minister of Public Security and former Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said on Wednesday.
According to him, Roxham Road is “a file that is very important” for his government, and says that he “always collaborates with the Legault government”.
Thursday, the elected members of the National Assembly spoke with one voice to ask the Trudeau government to “accelerate the negotiations in progress with the United States”. In a motion, adopted unanimously, Quebec parliamentarians also called on Ottawa to “establish efficient mechanisms for transferring asylum seekers to other provinces to take into account Quebec’s reception capacity.” Quebec estimates its accommodation capacity at around 1150.
“Quebec’s absorption capacity has been exceeded,” said Mr. Boulet in a press scrum on Thursday. The processing times, in my opinion, are delays that are not acceptable.”
According to Quebec’s calculations, the federal government takes an average of 14 months to process the files of asylum seekers who go through Roxham.