(Ottawa) Federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says he takes the arrival of unaccompanied minors on Roxham Road very seriously. The Press revealed on Tuesday that their number had quintupled since the pandemic. In the meantime, negotiations are continuing between Quebec and Ottawa for financial compensation.
“It’s something we take really seriously,” said the minister in a scrum on Tuesday. We must work closely with the provinces that welcome vulnerable people who have arrived in such circumstances. »
According to figures compiled by The Press, the number of unaccompanied minors finding refuge in Canada has increased from 23 in 2020 to 115 in 2022. These children and adolescents are from South America, the African continent or the Middle East. Their number is such that 10 social workers now devote themselves solely to this clientele in the Regional Program for the Reception and Integration of Asylum Seekers (PRAIDA).
The Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States provides that an unaccompanied minor must apply for refugee status in the country of arrival and not in the last country of stay. Mr. Fraser recalled that Canada must respect its national and international legal obligations to protect these children who arrived without families. Some then leave Quebec to go to the city of Toronto.
“I know that the Government of Quebec, in particular, is facing very strong pressures,” he acknowledged.
Minister Fraser and Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette met last week to discuss this issue. He would not say on Tuesday whether the Quebec government would receive full compensation for the costs incurred by the arrival of thousands of asylum seekers. In 2022, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police intercepted 39,171 in Quebec, according to data from Immigration Canada. The sums spent by Quebec for reception services would amount to tens of millions of dollars.
“We don’t have an announcement to make today, but we are very open to discussions on the role that the federal government could play,” said Mr. Fraser. The two governments must agree on the division of costs.
It would be a non-recurring sum, he was careful to specify, referring to the renegotiation of the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States. “Things are going well,” he said.
Two weeks earlier, Minister Fraser had said he did not believe a new deal would be announced when US President Joe Biden visited in March.
With the collaboration of Katia Gagnon and Patrick Lagacé, The Press