Not sure that Quebecers or other Canadians will calmly accept for a long time the migratory invasion they face, particularly for asylum requests.
In 2022, Quebec received 58,905 asylum requests. In 2023, the number had increased to 65,570. At this rate, in 10 years, refugees will account for more than 10% of the Quebec population.
Ottawa may say that some refugees are leaving Quebec, but the opposite is also true, refugees are leaving other provinces to come and live in Quebec. Quebec receives 45% of all refugees from Canada, while it accounts for 20% of the Canadian population.
The current rate of arrivals is unsustainable for aid agencies, infrastructure and institutions. Climate change and global political upheaval mean that the number of refugees is likely to increase significantly in the coming years.
As a first step, to limit the growing influx of refugees, the simplest option is to change the law.
- Listen to international politics expert Loïc Tassé on Benoit Dutrizac’s show via QUB :
Two choices
We have two choices. One almost impossible and the other difficult, but doable.
The almost impossible choice is to change the Constitution to include a share of collective rights, in order to limit the individual rights of refugees compared to the collective rights of Canadian and Quebec citizens. Good luck, we are prisoners of the ultraliberal thinking of Trudeau Sr. A thought that is seriously starting to date.
The difficult but feasible choice is for governments to denounce the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and therefore withdraw from it.
This eventuality is provided for in article 44 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. As this convention stipulates by name that the governments of the territories of the federations are party to the treaty, it follows that Quebec can also denounce this treaty.
Some traditionalist jurists will cringe at the mention of this right of the member states, but it is entirely defensible.
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Quebec must move
The Trudeau government will not denounce this treaty, for ideological reasons. Reasons that do not hold water in the face of the political and economic contingencies we face.
That leaves the Legault government, which should notify Ottawa that within a year, it will no longer apply the rights under its jurisdiction to refugees.
In theory, Quebec is not required to justify such denunciation of its part of the treaty – the treaty does not require justification. However, faced with those who would try to sue it, the Quebec government could easily invoke a case of force majeure.
Withdrawing from the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees would not solve all the problems of over-immigration, but it would be a step in the right direction, while waiting for Quebec and Canada to be strong enough again to start welcoming refugees again.