The closure of Roxham Road in March 2023 will not have slowed the massive arrival of asylum seekers at the Canadian borders. A record number of migrants came there to seek refuge last year. Almost half in Quebec.
The most recent data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada on asylum seekers were released Friday morning, at the end of a week during which Prime Minister François Legault urged his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, to put a stop to the massive arrival of migrants in Quebec.
Final result, after a year marked by the closure of Roxham Road: 144,000 asylum requests were made to the border services and the Ministry of Immigration in 2023.
This is a jump of 57% compared to the year 2022, during which Canada processed almost 92,000 files. Once again, it is Quebec which obtains the lion’s share of these asylum requests. A new annual record was established there, with 65,570 files — 46% of the Canadian total.
Unlike previous years, however, it is through airports that migrants arrive in Quebec. Since the end of March, which coincides with the closure of the Roxham Road crossing point, asylum applications made at airports have exploded. In Quebec in 2023, almost 26,000 people arrived by air, compared to 20,550 by land.
This phenomenon is also observed elsewhere in Canada. While Quebec recorded a new record, Ontario and British Columbia saw asylum requests made there double. Almost as many files were processed in Ontario (63,390) in 2023 as in Quebec.
Further details will follow.
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