(Quebec) Quebec has reached “breaking point due to the excessive number of asylum seekers” arriving on its territory and the situation has become “unsustainable”.
This is what Quebec Prime Minister François Legault wrote to his federal counterpart Justin Trudeau in a letter dated January 17 and sent to the media Thursday morning by Mr. Legault’s office.
In a tone that leaves no ambiguity, the Prime Minister of Quebec affirms that since the start of 2023, Quebec has welcomed nearly half of the asylum seekers who have arrived in Canada. “On a per capita basis, Quebec welcomed three times more than the rest of Canada,” continues Mr. Legault.
In the first 11 months of 2023, 59,735 asylum seekers arrived on Quebec territory and this number is projected to reach 65,000 in 2024.
“This pressure means that asylum seekers have difficulty finding a roof over their heads, which contributes to accentuating the housing crisis,” writes Mr. Legault. Many end up in homeless shelters, which are overflowing. Others experience homelessness, which exacerbates an already acute problem, particularly in winter. »
While emphasizing that “Quebecers form a welcoming people” and giving as an example the numerous Chilean, Vietnamese, Ukrainian and other refugees who have arrived over the years, Mr. Legault “formally” asks Mr. Trudeau to “curb and reduce the influx of asylum seekers entering Canada by tightening Canadian visa granting policy”, “distribute asylum seekers fairly across the entire Canadian territory and according to reception capacities”, “close all breach that would allow criminal groups to infiltrate into Canada” and “reimburse Quebec for the sums incurred in welcoming asylum seekers”.
The CAQ “catching up”, according to the PQ
For the leader of the Parti Québécois, François Legault’s missive to Justin Trudeau is “a symbolic gesture” which will not move the federal government. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon believes that the Prime Minister is “catching up on communications” while the question of immigration and the pressure on housing have been making a lot of noise in recent days.
“Let François Legault rewrite a letter saying that we want all the powers in immigration, that we demand it. And if he fails, let him have honesty [de dire] that the only solution is the independence of Quebec,” argued the PQ leader Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of his caucus in Alma. “He told us that he needed a strong mandate to repatriate immigration powers,” he added.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon expects Mr. Legault to receive yet another refusal from Ottawa. “We doubt the answer. The federal government has its own ideology” when it comes to immigration, he said. The PQ leader also brandished a letter sent to the Prime Minister two years ago to warn him of the “serious consequences” that the Trudeau government’s immigration policies will have on Quebec.
On Wednesday, the Parti Québécois announced that it could revise downwards its electoral commitment to reduce the permanent immigration thresholds to 35,000 due to the housing crisis which has worsened since the last elections. The political party must also specify by the summer its target in terms of temporary immigration, which according to it has become “out of control”.
With Fanny Lévesque