Since the beginning of the year, the arrivals of asylum seekers at Roxham Road have made headlines every week. In four questions this week, The duty attempts to provide nuanced answers to this complex phenomenon. Today: A historical comparison to put the arrivals of asylum seekers into perspective.
In 2022, 39,171 asylum seekers crossed the border between Quebec and the United States on this now famous path. Canada-wide, these arrivals accounted for 42% of the total 92,000 people who claimed asylum at various ports of entry and inland offices.
For the province and the country, these statistics indeed represented a peak in absolute numbers. Historically, Canada has nevertheless offered its protection to comparable numbers of people, all things considered in terms of the host population.
Each of these historical contingents or “waves” has also represented a high point in its time, but reception has more often been determined by political affiliations, popular sympathy or even prejudice.
One example that comes to mind for Laura Madokoro, a refugee historian at Carleton University, is that of the 37,000 Hungarians who arrived on federally subsidized flights in 1956. Canada then had a population of 16 million, or less than half of today. “We talk a lot about the ‘reception’ or even absorption capacity, so yes, it’s interesting to take into account the quantity already present here”, says this professor, in impeccable French.
In the space of just over a year, between the end of 1979 and 1980, Canada accepted more than 60,000 Indochinese refugees, most of whom fled Vietnam, when our population was 24 million.
“It is indeed a comparable wave in terms of number, but there are significant differences,” notes Louis-Jacques Dorais, professor emeritus at Laval University. The difference in status is notable: the Vietnamese arrived already recognized as refugees and therefore in possession of permanent residence.
Asylum seekers, including those arriving via Roxham, seek the same protection once they arrive in the territory. They remain waiting to be recognized, or not, as refugees by Canada for approximately two years.
Asylum seekers and refugees together form the large category often called “humanitarian immigration” in the statistical balance sheets of the levels of government, in the sense that they seek the country’s protection.
Asymmetry
Historically, each of these examples has represented a summit, but the hosting effort has often been modulated according to historical events and geopolitical alliances.
“At the time of those who were called the ‘boat people’, there may have been debates, but it was rather well accepted,” continues Mr. Dorais.
Public opinion was even pressing to admit more, to the point where Ottawa created a private sponsorship program. For every refugee sponsored by individuals or groups, the federal government in turn sponsored a refugee.
The enemy then was communism, a “clearly identifiable political problem,” says Mr. Dorais, and the war is clear to the public, whose images are widely broadcast by the media.
In the same vein, Canada rushed to resettle 12,000 refugees in 1968 and 1969, after the invasion of Czechoslovakia by troops led by the Soviet Union. A special program is created to relax admission criteria and help newcomers find jobs.
This episode is reminiscent of the special program set up in 2022 for Ukrainians, less than a month after the start of the Russian invasion. Today’s Ukrainians, however, are not “refugees” within the meaning of the Immigration Act, although they are often referred to as such in public discourse. They instead benefit from a temporary work permit or study permit, thanks to an exceptional measure called the Canada-Ukraine Emergency Travel Authorization.
“The enemy may be less clear to the Roxham applicants, even if the threats are very real”, resumes Professor Madokoro.
All these waves may have been “planned”, but they nevertheless required financial resources, continues Mr. Dorais.
Public perception and the openness of governments therefore do not only vary according to the extent of financial and social mobilization.
Canada, often seen as a model in terms of immigration, has rather often been “ambivalent” towards refugees and immigrants in general throughout history, according to Laura Madokoro. “Roxham sort of reveals the latent concerns. Maybe that’s where we show our true colors,” she says.
The fact that today asylum seekers arrive on foot and present themselves directly at the border also affects perceptions and marks the imagination, concede the two experts. The country has not “selected” them — or at least not yet.
On a global scale, however, this is rather the norm. The fact that Canada had not yet experienced such arrivals, “that’s the real exception, that’s what is ‘unprecedented’ on a global scale,” concludes Laura Madokoro.