For more than seven years, I have devoted every day of my life to representing people seeking security and a better life. They came from everywhere: Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Angola, Cameroon, etc. The vast majority of these entered via Roxham Road, often after crossing the Americas, from Chile or Brazil, in the hope of finding a place where they could settle without fearing for their lives. Some came with their children, others had to make the heartbreaking choice to leave them behind, still others tragically lost them on this perilous journey.
Never mind, despite the horrible events that brought them to us, I only heard thanks, gratitude and pride at the idea of possibly being able to settle here. Determined to be able to stay, they are the first to jump into work with both feet, combining jobs, often the most difficult, without ever making the slightest complaint. Throughout the pandemic, I have also been able to see that they were on the front line of the fight against the virus, in our CHSLDs, our hospitals, our essential businesses, that they saved lives, often at the risk of theirs, with the feeling of having returned the favor for having welcomed them among us.
For all these reasons, I was particularly hurt by several positions expressed by certain members of our political class this week, demanding the closure of Roxham Road without offering any alternative, as if we could simply ignore the existence of these people, of their need for security, as if we could erase them and close the door to them. I was shocked by the innuendoes or even the falsehoods claiming that the applicants who came through Roxham had no real fears of persecution. I was terribly disappointed by this rhetoric and the negative messages presented.
The solution is clear: Ottawa must immediately suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement to allow anyone claiming refugee status in Canada to do so at all Canadian border crossings, not Roxham. A suspension of the Agreement will allow for a much fairer sharing of the number of applications by province, but will also ensure a more orderly and, above all, more dignified process for those who need protection. A suspension of the Agreement will allow everyone to use the same passage and the same process.
Let us instead turn the debate towards this issue and demand the suspension of the Entente. Let’s grant work permits more quickly to asylum seekers awaiting a hearing. Let’s speed up the processing of their files. Let’s allow their children to join them more quickly. Let’s integrate them and welcome them as soon as possible into our beautiful Quebec society. It’s the most human and realistic thing to do.