The closure of Roxham Road is “a great victory” for Quebec, reacted Prime Minister François Legault at a press briefing Friday in Montreal.
“You have before you a Premier of Quebec who is happy,” declared Premier François Legault from the outset.
Mr. Legault reacted to the press briefing given a few minutes earlier in Ottawa by the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau and the President of the United States Joe Biden.
Ottawa and Washington agreed on Friday to close the Roxham Road crossing, used by thousands of migrants to enter Canada irregularly to seek asylum. The breach will be sealed the same evening at midnight, announced MM. Trudeau and Biden on Friday.
The application of the Safe Third Country Agreement will therefore now extend to the entire Canada-US border, including unofficial checkpoints such as Roxham Road in Montérégie, south of Montreal.
Asylum seekers who do not already have Canadian or US citizenship who are intercepted in Canada within 14 days of crossing the border will be returned to the United States, and vice versa.
“Quebec has reached and even exceeded its reception capacity. So, Roxham Road must be closed,” Prime Minister Legault repeated on Wednesday morning, a few hours before the arrival of the American president in Ottawa.
Nearly 40,000 migrants used the Roxham Road last year, twice as many as before the pandemic.
In March, 58% of migrants entering through this breach were transferred to other provinces. “It’s not enough yet,” commented Mr. Legault on Wednesday.
With Mélanie Marquis, Mylène Crête, Joël-Denis Bellavance and Tommy Chouinard