While in France, the Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, confirmed that his government has asked Ottawa to establish “waiting zones” for asylum seekers as is done in France.
“A waiting area, indeed, could be at the airport. There can also be, and it exists in part in France, where immigrants are redirected to other places. What we asked of Ottawa was: “Take inspiration, among others, from France,” he declared Tuesday in Paris during a press scrum at the start of his visit. .
These areas could be near an airport, but why not, says Mr. Legault, elsewhere in the country.
“What we are asking the federal government to do is to better distribute asylum seekers, because currently there are 45% of the Canadian total in Quebec while Quebec represents 22% of the Canadian population. So can we think about having waiting areas in other provinces? » he said.
In France, a foreigner arriving by boat, train or plane may be placed in a waiting zone at the border if he requests asylum, if he is refused entry or if he is allowed to board the country of final destination. was refused. This can last up to 26 days.
“They throw it in the air”
Upon his arrival at the morning meeting of the Council of Ministers in Ottawa, the federal Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, accused Mr. Legault of once again trying to “instrumentalize” the issue of immigration to political purposes.
“Secure zones are a completely different order of magnitude from what has ever been designed in Canada,” he said. And it was never mentioned in our working groups. So this is the new one. I think Mr. Legault is desperately trying to keep the public’s attention on the issue of immigration. »
Moreover, Mr. Miller has “no idea” of what exactly the Quebec government is demanding. “They’re throwing it up in the air,” he added.
In his opinion, Quebec must stop “avoiding itself of its responsibility” when it has many responsibilities, particularly with regard to foreign students.
“They have four institutions in the top 10 post-secondary institutions with the most asylum seekers,” noted the minister. Do they want to put these people in secure areas? I don’t know. They attended these institutions for three years. »
However, Minister Miller was informed of this in a letter from the former Quebec Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, which was addressed to him as well as to his colleague Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Dominic LeBlanc, and dated July 22.
She mentions “the establishment of a secure transition site” which could also be used to transfer asylum seekers to other provinces.
“Moreover, it appears essential, in our opinion, that the federal government quickly put in place such transitional infrastructures across Canada which it would manage,” the minister wrote.
Mme Fréchette noted in passing that “several states, which are parties to the same international conventions as Canada, have set up such sites,” including France.
Foreign students
Last week, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, vigorously criticized Mr. Legault on the immigration front, outright accusing him of spreading falsehoods and delaying presenting a plan to Ottawa. And he did it, what’s more, in front of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Reacting for the first time, Prime Minister Legault refused to act, revealing in passing that it is this week that he intends to table a bill aimed at establishing a maximum number of foreign students who will welcome the Quebec. There are currently 120,000 of them.
As for the impact that this will have on educational establishments, Mr. Legault specified that the analysis is still in progress, and he specified that the maximums per establishment have not yet been determined.
“So we act on the part that we control, but Mr. Trudeau, for the moment, we are obliged to say: we are still at the same number,” he said.
Mr. Legault reiterated that Quebec only has control over 180,000 of the 600,000 temporary immigrants the province receives. This proportion is made up of approximately 60,000 economic immigrants and 120,000 foreign students.
However, Prime Minister Trudeau insisted, Ottawa has taken numerous actions to reduce temporary immigration to the country, including reimposing visas for Mexican travelers and adding admission criteria for temporary workers with the aim of reducing their number. .
With information from Émilie Bergeron, in Ottawa.