When it comes to welcoming refugees, the Safe Third Country Agreement, signed between the United States and Canada on December 5, 2002 and entered into force on December 29, 2004, cannot be overlooked.
Under this agreement, a person who presents himself at a Canada-US border crossing will have his asylum application deemed inadmissible and will be returned to American territory unless he is covered by an exception provided for in the Agreement, by example an unaccompanied minor or the presence of a family member in Canada. However, if that same person crosses the border irregularly, they will not be covered by this Safe Third Country Agreement, and their asylum claim will be deemed admissible. This is the reason that has prompted thousands of people to cross the border irregularly in recent years to seek Canada’s protection. In fact, since January 2022, 99.3% of these entries have been made in Quebec.
Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, a person will not have the right to appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division if their refugee claim is denied if that claim was made at a land border during a regular crossing. On the other hand, if this same person crosses the border via Roxham Road, he will have a right of appeal in the event of a negative decision on his asylum application by the Immigration and Refugee Board. In short, all the elements are in place to encourage asylum seekers to cross the border irregularly: their request will be deemed admissible, there will be no refoulement to the United States and they will retain the right to appeal if their request is rejected.
The Ottawa government is aware of this situation, which has been going on for years, and obviously does not want to put an end to it.
Between January and August 2022, more than 23,000 people crossed the border via Roxham Road! However, if the trend continues, they will be nearly 50,000 by next December. Recall that the record was set in 2017 with 18,836 asylum seekers crossing the border in this way.
In early October 2022, the Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, declared that he expected to receive in his city nearly 100,000 migrants deported from the State of Texas and specified that approximately a third of these migrants would like to go to other destinations. We can therefore think with reason that one of these destinations will be Roxham Road.
It is this system and not the people that must be denounced! System imposed by Ottawa and tolerated by Quebec. We must know how to welcome, but above all we must know how to integrate adequately and effectively according to our capacity.
With the housing crisis, the lack of places in CPEs, the shortage of family doctors and teachers, the challenges of francization coupled with the fact that the immigration system is cracking on all sides, some are talking about a possible “humanitarian crisis “.
The time has now come to permanently close this irregular, unofficial access to the infamous Roxham Road. If the Ottawa government still refuses, since this road is on Quebec territory, then it is up to the Quebec government to act. the status quo is no longer the solution. A minimum of political will is needed…
On March 18, 2020, Justin Trudeau announced the “temporary closure” of the Canada-US border, the same for Roxham Road: “People who arrive at the border irregularly will be handed over to US authorities to be returned to the United States,” said Prime Minister Trudeau. But this situation was only temporary.
On March 22, 2020, in order to deal with the COVID-19 “crisis”, Nova Scotia closed its borders, among other things, to Quebecers wishing to travel to the Magdalen Islands. On March 25, 2020, New Brunswick did the same. Checkpoints had been set up. However, no one then questioned the jurisdiction of these provinces to close their roads!
It is important to note that Roxham Road is not THE border, but a road. Road that is on Quebec soil.
Thus, in a crisis situation, the Québec government not only has the legitimacy but the duty to act. It could be inspired by New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It is high time…