(Ottawa) After years of negotiations, Ottawa and Washington agree to close the loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement that allowed migrants to enter Canada irregularly, including via Roxham Road.
Under the agreement, Canada will announce that it is opening its doors to 15,000 asylum seekers over the next year, confirmed to The Press a Canadian government source who requested anonymity, not being authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Safe Third Country Agreement will therefore now be applied all along the border between Canada and the United States, including at unofficial checkpoints such as Chemin Roxham, in Montérégie, which nearly 40,000 migrants had borrowed in 2022.
On both sides, these adjustments are expected to curb irregular migration.
The policy will apply to asylum seekers who are not Canadian or American citizens, and who are intercepted within 14 days of crossing the border, according to our information, which confirms those reported earlier by the Los Angeles Times.
If these people are intercepted in Canada, they will be deported to the United States, and vice versa.
The details of the agreement remain to be finalized. The Trudeau government will tie the last strings as part of the visit to Canada by United States President Joe Biden and his delegation, who arrived in the country on Thursday and will leave this Friday.
The conclusion of an agreement between Ottawa and Washington was first reported by Radio-Canada on Thursday.
Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos did not deny the news when he arrived in parliament.
I think this is very good news. Mr. Trudeau and other members of the ministerial team have been working hard on this for months, I would even say years, and I understand that there will be clarifications soon.
Jean-Yves Duclos, Federal Minister of Health
Insistent demands for closure
The wish of the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, who was clamoring for the immediate closure of Roxham Road, is therefore likely to be granted.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Premier of Quebec, François Legault
“I think it’s important for Quebecers that this subject be addressed and eventually settled,” he said Thursday morning during a brief scrum with the press before going to the Blue Room for the period of the issues.
Calls for Roxham Road to be closed have been growing since thousands of asylum seekers started using it again to enter Canada after the pandemic paused when the crossing was locked down.
The Bloc Québécois had also sent a letter to the United States Ambassador to Ottawa, David Cohen, calling for the closure of Roxham Road and the suspension of this agreement.
“If the objective is achieved, that is to say, to close Roxham and allow asylum seekers to make their requests on a regular basis across Canada, thus relieving the reception capacity of Quebec, at this time That will be a victory,” commented Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe.
“Now is that it?” We do not know. You have to be careful. The devil is in the details,” he added, wondering among other things what would happen to the $500 million investment the federal government made in Roxham Road.
Like the Bloc Québécois, the New Democratic Party called for the agreement to be suspended. “But if there’s another way to fix what’s going on, we’re open, because we have to fix this problem,” Chief Jagmeet Singh said in a scrum.
The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, spoke out on Twitter in the evening. “Trudeau backed down again and agreed to close Roxham Road, about 30 days after I asked him to do so,” Poilievre wrote. But he should never have opened it in the first place. Before him, there had never been illegal mass border crossings and I will not let that happen again. »
An issue outside of Quebec
Quebec was not the only province to start tapping its feet.
In Ontario, where hundreds of asylum seekers had been transferred, elected officials insisted on the urgency for the federal government to find a solution.
“I sympathize with Premier Legault because Niagara Falls, like Quebec, has reached saturation point,” Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said in early March.
Canada and the United States have been trying to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement for several years.
Under the agreement that came into force in 2004, a person who wants to obtain refugee status must submit his request in the first of the two countries where he sets foot.
As it only applies to border crossings, airports and arrivals by train, many asylum seekers use irregular passages such as Roxham Road to circumvent it.
With the collaboration of Joël-Denis Bellavance, Tommy Chouinard and Suzanne Colpron, The Press
The Roxham Road in five dates
December 29, 2004
Entry into force of the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States. Under this agreement, asylum seekers must file their application in the first safe country where they arrive, with some exceptions. This agreement only applies to official points of entry, namely border crossings and entry by train and air.
January 28, 2017
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on Twitter: “To those fleeing persecution, terror and war, know that Canada will welcome you regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength. #Welcome to Canada “.
August 2, 2017
The Quebec government requisitions the Olympic Stadium to deal with the influx of asylum seekers in the province. Nearly 19,000 people entered Quebec via Roxham Road, in Montérégie, in 2017.
March 21, 2020
Partial closure of the Canada-US border due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The border will not reopen until November 2021.
January 25, 2023
Quebec organizations that come to the aid of asylum seekers are crying out, claiming to be at the end of their resources. In 2022, a record 39,171 people crossed the border on foot via Roxham Road. The numbers do not diminish in 2023, where nearly 9,500 were welcomed in January and February. Political pressure is increasing, both provincially and federally, to deal with this migratory influx.
Lila Dussault, The Press