The wish of many people has therefore been granted: Roxham Road has been closed. “A good thing done,” they say. We are promised that, henceforth, it will be on a regular basis that all those people for whom this muddy path was synonymous with hope will come to us. (But that remains to be seen, of course.)
THE timing of the announcement was fabulous: a presidential visit later, here we are in migratory nirvana. The least worst of the solutions, the irregular entry by Roxham, was therefore discarded.
It’s never pretty to see, a human drama. It’s not easy to deal with either and public opinion changes so quickly…
The more everyday human dramas affect us much less. It is that they are not visible; difficult to be indignant at what one does not see. The cameras trained on newcomers to Roxham Road will not be there later when they go to a community agency for support. There is also likely to be little media interest in the 18-month waiting list that will form for the appointment with the federal government that will finally initiate the process of regularizing the status.
If these situations could be avoided by a more rapid response from the State, the community would not be so much in demand.
The worst possible scenario
Allow me two or three thoughts on the impact of this closure.
The goal here is to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground and to talk about the reality – hold on tight – of the thousands of people who have arrived in Greater Montreal over the past few years.
We have just missed a great opportunity to improve the situation of refugees and asylum seekers. Because of our lack of foresight, these people are condemned to a precariousness that is not commensurate with a developed society like ours.
It’s easy to imagine smugglers rubbing their hands at this new business opportunity. After all, by the very admission of governments, monitoring thousands of kilometers of borders is not easy.
By closing this access – far from ideal, I admit – we are pushing people underground who, with a better welcome, could contribute greatly to our society.
It is as if we had chosen the worst possible scenario. We put an end to the irregular entries by telling ourselves, again, that someone else would take care of it.
If I allowed myself to be irreverent, I would say that, as usual, it will rest on the back – very broad and rather curved, these days – of the community sector.
Despite all the efforts of the organizations, the reception conditions are not ideal. Access to quality, affordable housing within a reasonable time frame is completely impossible. And you still have to be able to pay a 3½ for a family of five. Sometimes you have to accept the presence of roommates with multiple legs and antennae. I guarantee you that these people end up at a food bank very early every month.
The path of precariousness
“They just have to go to work to improve their lot,” some will say. But how can they do it, without a work permit? I was recently told the story of a lady from Haiti who has been waiting for her work permit for six months. Rima Elkouri, she introduced us last week1 a Mexican couple forced to live in a situation of extreme vulnerability while waiting for their interview with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, scheduled only in October.
The first barrier to entering the labor market for these migrants is neither the lack of will nor the urgency to survive, but rather the system itself.
Once their status is regularized, newcomers will not even be out of the woods. Then will begin the waltz of official and less official meetings for services such as francization, essential so that they can contribute to their fair value and capacity.
This waltz will turn into a breaking wave of not always linear encounters with community organizations that help them with what we call basic needs: housing, food, clothing and transportation. Without the support of these organizations, we would witness many human tragedies.
A first gesture by the Minister of Social Solidarity and Community Action towards organizations that help migrants hit the nail on the head a few weeks ago with the creation of a fund. We now have to ensure that the funding matches the reception of which we are collectively capable. And above all, that it is long-lasting.
Roxham Road may be closed, but the one that leads to precariousness remains wide open.