Federal Minister of Public Safety asks his border agents to “safely and compassionately manage” arrivals at the border with the United States, and orders them to respect the Safe Third Country Agreement while expediting removal procedures from the country.
Minister Marco Mendicino on Friday unveiled the mandate letters he has written for various federal agencies under his responsibility. His letter to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) staff makes no explicit mention of Roxham Road, Quebec, but does not hint at any fundamental change in its management.
The Legault government regularly asks the federal government to “close” this irregular crossing point that up to 35,000 asylum seekers would use this year to get to Quebec, according to its estimates. This situation is caused by the fact that the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States prevents migrants from presenting themselves at regular border crossings, from which they would be rejected.
“At this time, we must continue to implement all the laws, all the policies that are there to strengthen the integrity of our borders and our immigration system, and even to respect the rights of asylum seekers” , said Minister Marco Mendicino, in an interview he requested with The duty.
Even if it is now the task of his colleague Sean Fraser, the Minister of Immigration, to modernize the agreement with the United States on immigration, Marco Mendicino says he is “optimistic” that a new agreement will “close” the Roxham waypoint. This, even if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has suggested that it is the United States that has little appetite to settle the file.
“We have good relations with the United States. We have made a lot of progress on this exercise. […] They [les Américains] also want to make progress on the modernization of this agreement, it is important for them too, ”said Minister Mendicino, who was responsible for the file until the 2021 elections.
He insists that his government provides assistance to the Government of Quebec “every day, every month, every year” to help it manage the arrival of asylum seekers at Roxham Road. “It shows the good faith between the two of us. »
The minister says he is updating the missions of his agencies at this “appropriate time”, in order to show “more transparency”. In particular, he asks various federal agents to tackle systemic racism to “restore confidence” in these institutions.
Marco Mendicino tabled Bill C-20 last Thursday to create a new body to review public complaints against the CBSA, and is now asking his agency to prepare for it.
To “stop irregular migration,” Mendicino is asking his agents to speed up the processing of asylum claims and expedite the removal of inadmissible people from the country.
Finally, the CBSA will also need to increase its use of “digital technologies” to improve the efficiency of border procedures. Border officers are invited to send the Minister their advice to promote the movement of people after the pandemic.