Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the question is not whether Roxham Road should be closed, but how.
“To close Roxham Road is what we all want, but there is no simple solution,” he said Wednesday during a press briefing in the Greater Toronto Area.
He added that the path to follow is the one already undertaken, namely the renegotiation of the Safe Third Country Agreement (STPA) with the United States.
“What we need is to renegotiate [l’accord] to ensure that any possibility of crossing irregularly is completely closed. […] We have been talking about this for many months, years, and we are making progress, ”he assured.
As he had said before, he argued that sticking to “putting up barricades” at Roxham Road would amount to “taking people to cross somewhere else”, all along the Canada-US border.
The ETPS ensures that a potential refugee presenting himself at an official Canadian border crossing and having first set foot on American soil is turned away since he must continue his asylum application in the first “place of safety” where he is arrived.
Thus, people still wishing to seek asylum in Canada cross the Canada-US border by makeshift crossings, and this, in many cases by Roxham Road, located in Montérégie. Once they are in Canada and have been intercepted by Canadian authorities after officially setting foot in Canada, their asylum claim can be processed.
In 2022, a record number of 39,171 people crossed the border irregularly, according to the number of interceptions reported by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Quebec insistence
François Legault has been insisting for months that Quebec can no longer stem this influx and is asking for the closure of Roxham Road, which is located in the province. On Sunday, he wrote to Mr. Trudeau to demand that all of the people crossing this makeshift passage be redirected to other provinces.
On Tuesday, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre added his voice to that of Mr. Legault, also calling for the closure of Roxham Road. He added a 30-day timeline to his request. He stated that, in his opinion, there is “no need” to review the ETPS or even to suspend it in order to “close” Roxham Road.
“We are a country. We try to complicate things too much. A country has borders. The prime minister is responsible for borders. It is an exclusively federal responsibility. There is no other country [ni] international body that controls our borders,” he said.
Mr. Trudeau does not have the same vision of things. On Wednesday, he said that until the renegotiation with the Americans is concluded, Canada will have to meet its obligations.
“In the meantime, we must continue to be faithful to our values and to international agreements to be welcoming to migrants,” he said.
Prime Minister Trudeau reiterated that Quebec had been “generous” in welcoming migrants. He also pointed out that Ottawa had provided support to the province and promised, in the same breath, that more would be done in this regard.