Regg Cohn: On refugees, Canadians aren’t that different from everyone else

2024/05/17 Leave a comment

Of note and a dose of reality:

On a recent visit to Dublin and London, it was impossible to ignore the human migration byplay. Even at the far ends of Western Europe, Britain and Ireland are on the front lines of a seemingly unstoppable migration wave that is destined to disrupt every country — and overturn all our assumptions about how to do the right thing.

The Irish like to think of themselves as more moral than most — they sound so very Canadian. But from the moment you deplane in Dublin, you see border patrol officers interrogating migrants for their paperwork on the sidelines while everyone else clutches their passports in the queue.

On the streets of the capital city, homeless encampments are a familiar sight, sheltering refugees with nowhere to go. On the front pages of the country’s newspapers, the issue never seems to go away.

Ireland, long a country of emigration, is now a destination for migration. Outbound has become inbound, which is turning its politics upside down.

To be clear, the Irish have done their fair share of helping Ukrainian refugees resettle on their shores. More than 100,000 people displaced by Russia’s invasion are living and working in the republic, one of the highest intake rates in Europe given its own small population of 5.3 million.

That’s an economic bonus for the Irish, given that their unemployment remains at a rock bottom 4.2 per cent amid resurgent tourism. But Ireland’s long-standing housing crisis is even more acute than Canada’s sudden shortage.

Now, a surge in claimants has triggered economic and political pressure on a country that, like Canada, prides itself on laying out the welcome mat. When I visited recently, the Taoiseach (Ireland’s prime minister) announced an expansion in refugee centres, but also a decline in government supports for Ukrainians:

“It’s so important that we maintain social cohesion,” Simon Harris said earnestly last month. “Irish people are a good and decent people who see the benefits of migration. They also like to see a bit of common sense when it comes to migration.”

A Canadian politician couldn’t have put it better. But beyond welfare adjustments, he also announced a broader refugee review because of how many are “still living in free state accommodation without making a contribution.”

The Taoiseach might have added that the Irish, like their Canadian cousins, can also count.

Fully one-third of all asylum seekers so far this year are coming from Nigeria — nearly double the rate of a year ago. That so many emanate from Nigeria — a perennial source of dubious claims compared to true global hot spots — seems reminiscent of similar distortions among claimants in Canada.

Belatedly, the Irish are designating Nigeria a “safe country” that triggers “fast processing” for claimants (to deter long stays). Interestingly, most Nigerians come not by boat or plane — there are no direct flights between the two countries — but overland from Northern Ireland, making their way via the United Kingdom.

Their sudden exodus from the U.K. is likely motivated by the anti-migration mania gripping British politics, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government concocting an accord with Rwanda to relocate refugee claimants before they put down roots on British soil. The outcry — legally, morally, politically — over his strategy dominates the headlines, but it is Ireland’s retrenchment that is perhaps more telling.

In Dublin, opposition Labour Leader Ivana Bacik described the encampments in Dublin as a local manifestation of London’s Rwanda policy: “This failure, resulting in so many tents, this amounts to a sort of Rwanda policy for the Irish government … as if they’re seeking to send out a signal to those who may be coming to Ireland to claim refuge.”

Times change. Tones change.

Source: On refugees, Canadians aren’t that different from everyone else

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , ,

Some illegal border crossers receive $224 in food and accommodation per day while awaiting processing

2024/05/15 Leave a comment

Silly comparison between pension income, for those who largely have a home and are settled, and asylum claimants who are not. Legitimate to question the government’s handling of asylum claimants and immigration in general as many do but need to do so intelligently rather than just to stoke outrage. And of course, these are irregular arrivals in legal parlance, not illegal ones:

As the number of Canada’s refugee claimants hits new highs, a Conservative MP has revealed that Ottawa budgets about $224 per day to feed and house some foreigners who claim asylum after illegally entering the country.

Last week, Conservative MP Lianne Rood uploaded documents to social media showing the government’s answer to her question about what “goods and services” are provided to foreigners who have claimed asylum in Canada — but have not yet had their applications reviewed by immigration authorities.

The average accommodation cost is “$140 per night per room,” and the average cost for meals is “$84 per day per claimant” — for a total of $224 per claimant, per day.

And the per diem cost may go even higher once factoring in the other “essential items” provided for free to claimants, including “toiletries, medicines, diapers.”

“Claimants in IRCC operated hotels, regardless of how they entered Canada, are provided with accommodations and meals once they are relocated,” read the official answer to Rood, signed by Paul Chiang, parliamentary secretary to the minister of diversity and inclusion.

“The NDP-Liberal government is giving TEN TIMES the benefits to illegal border jumpers than it is giving to help Canadian seniors! DISGRACEFUL!” wrote Rood in an accompanying caption to a May 7 post on X uploading the document.

As of the most recent figures by the IRCC, there are 156,032 pending asylum claims before the agency — although not all of them are in Canada and living within an IRCC hotel….

Source: Some illegal border crossers receive $224 in food and accommodation per day while awaiting processing

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,

Canada threw open its doors to visitors after the pandemic. Now, many don’t want to leave

2024/04/24 Leave a comment

Yet another example of an immigration policy failure, likely politically-driven by then Minister Fraser, leaving yet another mess for Minister Miller. Money quote: “They made a decision with a full understanding that there would be an impact on in-Canada asylum processing,” said Sharma. “There’s significant cost and it’s not just the refugee (determination) system. There are other downstream effects.”:

A special program Canada brought in last year to make it easier for tourists, business travellers and those with relatives in this country to visit has led to some unexpected consequences.

Newly obtained documents show that a striking percentage of people who took advantage of the expedited visitor visas that the program offered have now applied to stay here — as asylum seekers.

It’s a situation, some say, that reflects among other things the pent-up demand for asylum created during the pandemic, when the border was closed.

The Immigration Department said as of Feb. 29, 2024, about 152,400 visas were issued under the time-limited program, including 7,300 applicants for the so-called “Super Visas” for parents and grandparents, who come frequently to visit Canadian children and grandchildren.

A government internal memorandum obtained by Star under an access-to-information request said 19,400 asylum claims were made by visitors granted visas under the special program, though few were Super Visa applicants.

That means almost 13 per cent of these visa holders have already sought protection in Canada.

It’s a rate that appears to be abnormally high.

For instance, in 2019, before the pandemic, there were 5.7 million temporary resident visas issued and 58,378 people asked for asylum, but that number also included those who arrived as international students, foreign workers and irregular migrants walking through the United States land border.

The asylum seekers emerging from the program account for 14 per cent of the 137,947 new refugee claimants received by Canada in 2023.

The number is further expected to grow as many visa holders have yet to come before their admission document expires.

“A lot of these individuals would probably have been refused for visas but for the relaxation of the rules,” said Calgary-based immigration lawyer Raj Sharma.

“The program is done by December. That means that they’ve got a six-month entry. This surge or uptake will be with us for some time.”

Effective between Feb. 28 and Dec. 7, 2023, the temporary policy waived the requirements for applicants to prove they had enough financial resources for the travels and would leave Canada after their visits. But they must have submitted a visa application before Jan. 16 last year and not been previously denied. All must still pass security, criminal and medical clearances.

“With the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic now behind us, international travel is resuming and the Government is focused upon Canada’s economic recovery,” said a notice of the public policy signed by then immigration minister Sean Fraser.

“To position Canada to maximize the benefit of the movement of tourists, business persons and family visitors, the Government is committed to reducing processing times for visitor visas.”

Toronto immigration lawyer Adam Sadinsky attributed the high rate partly to the pent-up demand for asylum from people fleeing persecution during the pandemic between March 2020 and September 2021, when the border was closed. The relaxation of the rules also allowed some who would otherwise have been refused to get here, he noted.

“The reality is that during the time that people weren’t able to travel to Canada, the types of persecution that people face that lead them to flee their countries and seek protection abroad didn’t cease,” said Sadinsky, a spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers.

“It’s natural that among the group of people who applied for temporary residence, there was a cohort of individuals, whose plan, it seems, was to claim refugee protection in Canada because there were nearly two years in which they weren’t able to do that.”

He pointed out that the easing of the rules also took effect around the time that Ottawa and Washington expanded their bilateral border agreements in March to ban asylum seekers from crossing between the two countries, which has essentially made it impossible for irregular migrants to cross the land border for asylum.

The land border restrictions, he said, mean only the most privileged who are able to secure a visa to fly to Canada can have access to asylum.

“It has always been possible for individuals to make refugee claims after they come to Canada with a visitor visa, a student visa or a work permit,” said Sadinsky.

“The reality is that people flee their countries and they do that in ways that it is possible. Canada has international obligations to grant protection to those who are within our border.”

Sharma said the federal government had the options to either return applications and refund applicants caught in the backlog, or simply inform people about the backlog and ask them to wait if they could.

He said the special public policy was unprecedented because the visa relaxation applied system-wide regardless of country of origin, but said the measure was harmful.

“They made a decision with a full understanding that there would be an impact on in-Canada asylum processing,” said Sharma. “There’s significant cost and it’s not just the refugee (determination) system. There are other downstream effects.”

An Immigration Department spokesperson said the special public policy has been successful in clearing most of the older temporary resident visa applications in the system. According to its website, there are currently 1.14 million such applications in the queue, almost half exceeding service standards, down from 64 per cent in February 2023.

Source: Canada threw open its doors to visitors after the pandemic. Now, many don’t want to leave

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , ,

Globe editorial: Ottawa’s next immigration emergency [asylum claimants]

2024/01/30 Leave a comment

Similarly, a pattern in the Globe’s coverage of and commentary on immigration with the needed critical eye:

A pattern has emerged in Liberal immigration policy over the past year: Ignore mounting evidence of trouble, dismiss rumbles of criticism and, finally, take the smallest possible action to avert an all-out calamity.

There was abundant evidence for months that the pace of new arrivals, particularly temporary migrants, was putting unacceptable strain on housing in big cities and other social infrastructure. But it was not until November that the Trudeau government took the tentative step of tamping down the growth in permanent immigration – misleadingly referred to as “stabilizing” by the government. Even with the change, permanent immigration targets will rise this year and next, with an extra 55,000 people admitted over that two-year span.

Last week, there were half-measures to curb the eye-popping growth in the ranks of international students, with Immigration Minister Marc Miller announcing a two-year cap on international study visas. But that cap is being imposed with visas already at historically high levels.

…

In the first 11 months of last year, 128,690 people made asylum claims in Canada, more than double the number in the prepandemic year of 2019. Claims from Mexican nationals in 2023 accounted for 17 per cent of the total, nearly double their proportion in 2019….

source: Ottawa’s next immigration emergency

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Jump in illegal crossings causes speculation amongst residents of Canada-U.S. border states [southbound]

2024/01/30 Leave a comment

Of note:

The number of apprehensions in the border sector that includes Vermont, New Hampshire and part of New York state rose to 6,925 last year from 1,065 the year before, according to figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. About half of these were Mexican nationals, with significant proportions from India and Venezuela as well.

The totals are still modest compared to those on the U.S. border with Mexico. The entire frontier with Canada saw fewer than 200,000 apprehensions last year, a little more than 6 per cent of the 3.2 million nationwide total.

But the increase has prompted Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley to argue for building a wall on at least part of the Canada-U.S. border. Before quitting the race this month, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis also endorsed such a policy. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu announced a tenfold increase of state trooper patrols in the area.

Source: Jump in illegal crossings causes speculation amongst residents of Canada-U.S. border states

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , ,

‘Abnormal’: Quebec says there are still too many asylum seekers entering the province

2023/11/04 Leave a comment

Of note. Many air travellers arrive in Montreal but still surprising so much less than Toronto. May reflect the presence or absence of direct flight connections or other factors.

She is correct, of course, in her critique of federal visa policies being too loose given the removal of the need to demonstrate sufficient funds and intent to return to their country of origin:

Quebec’s immigration minister says the number of asylum seekers entering the province is “abnormal.”

Christine Fréchette told reporters today that the federal government needs to do more to distribute would-be refugees across the country.

She says that since the closure of Roxham Road — the irregular land border crossing between Quebec and New York state — there are now too many asylum seekers showing up at the province’s airports.

Federal government statistics show that 17,080 people claimed asylum at Quebec airports between January and September of this year, more than double the second-highest province for airport claimants, Ontario.

Fréchette says Quebec has welcomed more asylum seekers so far this year than all other provinces combined, which was also true in 2022.

The minister also says Ottawa is too “loose” with the way it gives travel visas, saying many migrants are taking advantage of that pathway to claim asylum in the country.

Source: ‘Abnormal’: Quebec says there are still too many asylum seekers entering the province

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , ,

Asylum claims jump at Canadian airports after Ottawa eases some visitor visa requirements

2023/10/24 Leave a comment

“Fix” one problem by creating another! Waiving the sufficient funds requirements and the demonstration of intent to leave requirement may have appeared a good idea at the time but did nobody at the official or political level not expect an increase in claimants?

Canada is experiencing a surge of asylum claims being made at domestic airports after a contentious move by the federal government to waive certain requirements for thousands of visitor visa applicants.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has processed more than 26,000 asylum claimants at airports through September this year, an increase of 54 per cent from last year’s total, according to figures from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). While the numbers have been rising since 2022, the trend accelerated in the spring.

In March, the federal government closed Roxham Road, a popular route into Quebec for those seeking asylum in Canada. The closure has forced would-be claimants to find new entry points.

But there was another, less-publicized move, that likely contributed to the trend. Earlier this year, Ottawa waived some eligibility requirements for visitor visa applicants – in particular, those individuals no longer have to prove they have sufficient funds to stay in Canada or demonstrate they will leave the country when their visas expire. The policy went into effect on Feb. 28 and lasts through the end of 2023.

The Globe and Mail reported in January that IRCC was considering such a move, after the newspaper leaked a government document that outlined ways to reduce a significant volume of visa applications.

The memo said that not all applicants for temporary resident visas, or TRVs, would be “genuine visitors,” and that in waiving eligibility requirements for those individuals, it could lead to an additional 8,600 asylum claims.

Still, Ottawa pressed ahead with the plan – although it didn’t disclose anything publicly until June, four months after the policy took effect. Radio-Canada was first to report on the change.

“The percentage of people coming to Canada on a TRV and claiming asylum remains low compared to the overall volume of TRVs the department typically issues each year,” IRCC spokesperson Mary Rose Sabater said in a statement. “In the current reality of increasing global migration, Canada, like many other countries, is experiencing a rise in the number of people claiming asylum.”

Many people connected to the immigration system, including lawyers and government employees, have criticized Ottawa’s approach to expediting the processing of applications. They say the immigration department is not performing its due diligence in screening all visitors, while also putting stress on the refugee system, which was already struggling to accommodate a rush of people seeking protection in Canada.

The change “makes our immigration system seem unreliable,” said Zeynab Ziaie Moayyed, an immigration lawyer in Toronto. It’s “a short-sighted way to reduce that backlog, but creates all kinds of other problems.”

At times last year, there were more than 2.6 million applications in IRCC’s inventories, including for visitor visas, work and study permits and permanent residency. As of Aug. 31, there were 2.2 million applications in the queue.

The IRCC memo, which dates to December, said waiving eligibility requirements would apply to roughly 450,000 TRV applications in the system.

The document said the stockpile of applications was “eroding the public’s trust” in the department and its ability to manage migration. Hopeful immigrants and visitors often complain that it can take years for the government to render a decision on their files.

“The accumulated visitor visa inventory is limiting Canada’s attractiveness for tourists and business persons, in addition to keeping families separated,” the government said on a webpage that announced the policy change. “Facilitating the processing of applications currently in the inventory by streamlining eligibility requirements will position Canada for a clean start and a return to pre-pandemic processing times, thereby ensuring our international competitiveness moving forward.”

The measure applies to visitor visa applications that were in the system by Jan. 16, coinciding with the date of The Globe’s story on the policies under consideration.

The government also waived a requirement – the need for foreign nationals to establish that they will leave the country by the end of their authorized stays – for those seeking “super visas,” which allow parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens or permanent residents to visit the country for five years at a time.

Despite the exemptions, prospective visitors are still subject to other screening procedures, such as those ensuring they aren’t a known threat to national security.

In a statement, the CBSA said it has seen an increase in the number of asylum claimants in recent weeks at airports, including Montréal–Trudeau International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport. The agency said the claimants were mainly from Mexico, India, Kenya, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Uganda.

Federal data show that a majority of asylum claims made at airports occur in Quebec. Eric Forest, a spokesperson for Trudeau International Airport, said it is “not suited to receive a large number of asylum seekers daily nor should it be its mandate.”

The IRCC memo outlined the pros and cons of using “aggressive measures” to reduce its inventory of visa applications, which it described as a crisis situation. Among the drawbacks, there would be “increased pressure” on the asylum system, including for the CBSA, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, hotels and airlines.

As of June 30, there were more than 103,000 refugee protection claims pending at the IRB, an increase of 47 per cent over six months.

Ms. Ziaie Moayyed questioned why IRCC would waive some requirements when it already has methods to process applications in bulk.

“They could have used the technology tools they have to process those applications,” she said. “It wouldn’t have created this really bad precedent that Canada will, at some point, if pushed, allow a large number of applications to go through without any eligibility assessment.”

Source: Asylum claims jump at Canadian airports after Ottawa eases some visitor visa requirements

Filed under Refugees Tagged with , , , ,

Canada-U.S. refugee pact changes expected to ‘exacerbate existing threats’: memo

2023/10/23 Leave a comment

It may, but to date the number of irregular arrivals remains under 100, a small number compared to likely visa and permit overstays:

A newly released memo shows federal officials warned last spring that expanding a bilateral refugee pact to the entire Canada-U.S. border would likely fuel smuggling networks and encourage people to seek more dangerous, remote crossing routes.

Officials feared the development would also strain RCMP resources as irregular migrants dispersed more widely across the vast border.

The April memo, made public by Public Safety Canada through the Access to Information Act, was prepared in advance of a Cross-Border Crime Forum meeting with American representatives.

Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, implemented in 2004, Canada and the United States recognize each other as havens to seek protection.

The pact has long allowed either country to turn back a prospective refugee who showed up at a land port of entry along the Canada-U.S. border — unless eligible for an exemption — on the basis they must pursue their claim in the country where they first arrived.

However, until this year it did not apply to those who crossed between official entry points.

On March 24, during U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Ottawa, the two countries announced the Safe Third Country Agreement would cover the entire land border effective the following day.

The move followed concern and debate about increases in irregular migration to both Canada and the United States.

The internal memo said the Cross-Border Crime Forum was an opportunity to reaffirm Canada’s commitment to ensuring fair, orderly migration between the two countries, in part through support for expansion of the refugee agreement.

The memo noted there was a drop in the number of irregular border interceptions by the RCMP between March 25 and April 25.

But “Despite preliminary positive results related to irregular migration volumes, changes to the (Safe Third Country Agreement) are expected to change the criminal threat environment and exacerbate existing threats to the Canada-U.S. border,” it noted.

It said individuals may be motivated to cross the border via more dangerous and remote routes in order to avoid law enforcement and circumvent the expanded protocol.

It is “highly likely that human smuggling networks will expand their operations and play a vital role in these clandestine entries” by providing services such as safe houses, fraudulent documents and transportation to and from the border, the memo said

“Human smuggling creates significant risks for irregular migrants and exposes them to dangerous conditions. Irregular crossings in remote, rural, or isolated locations may result in physical injury or fatalities.”

In addition, the memo said, the RCMP is aware that irregular migrants may become victims of physical or sexual abuse or human trafficking during their passage to Canada.

Irregular migration through isolated regions puts responding RCMP members’ health and safety at risk, the memo added. “These activities also produce challenges on the RCMP’s resources as irregular migrants become less concentrated and more dispersed across the Canada-U.S. border.”

The memo also warned that organized crime groups might use shifting irregular migration routes along the border to smuggle illicit commodities including drugs, guns and tobacco.

The internal warnings echoed concerns the Canadian Council for Refugees voiced upon expansion of the Safe Third Country Agreement. In that sense, the content of the memo is not surprising, said Gauri Sreenivasan, a co-executive director at the council.

“What’s very concerning is it underscores how clearly the government was aware of the dangers that were associated with closing down the border,” she said in an interview.

The council has consistently argued against the refugee pact, saying the U.S. is not always a safe country for people fleeing persecution.

The best public policy is to allow a claimant to show up safely at a border crossing and to hear their case fairly, Sreenivasan said. “There is nothing illegal about asking for protection. In fact, it’s a right protected under international human rights law.”

In late March, just after expansion of the refugee agreement, eight people drowned in the St. Lawrence River when an apparent attempt to smuggle them into the U.S. went awry.

A statement issued following the Cross-Border Crime Forum meeting in late April said cabinet members from the two countries asked officials to review recent incidents along the border to identify opportunities to improve intelligence, detection and interdiction to disrupt cross-border smuggling, investigate events and hold people accountable.

RCMP spokeswoman Marie-Eve Breton says co-operative efforts “have demonstrated that we can respond to the evolving threat environment encountered at the border.”

When people crossing between ports of entry are intercepted by the RCMP or local police, they are brought to a designated port of entry providing there are no national security or criminality concerns identified, Breton said. Once at the port of entry, the Canada Border Services Agency will then determine whether or not the claim is eligible under the Safe Third Country Agreement.

The border service agency says it works closely with Canadian and U.S. partners to ensure the lawful, safe and humane treatment of refugee claimants while maintaining border security.

“It is illegal to enter between ports of entry and it is not safe,” said border agency spokesperson Maria Ladouceur. “We encourage asylum seekers to cross the border at designated ports of entry.”

Breton also urged border-crossers to follow the rules. “This process is safer, faster and according to the law.”

Source: Canada-U.S. refugee pact changes expected to ‘exacerbate existing threats’: memo

Filed under Immigration, Refugees Tagged with , , ,

Des demandeurs d’asile qui s’adaptent plutôt que de combattre en vain

2023/08/11 Leave a comment

Given ongoing levels of asylum claimants, some suggestions to facilitante their integration at the local level. Silent on the need for faster processing and decisions on asylum claims, however:

Le 20 juillet dernier, dans un article du Devoir (« Un nombre record de demandeurs d’asile passent désormais par les aéroports »), on apprenait que les demandeurs d’asile n’étaient pas moins nombreux à entrer au pays depuis la fermeture du chemin Roxham.

En effet, en suivant la courbe des entrées chaque mois comparativement à l’année précédente, on anticipe que le nombre de demandeurs d’asile admis en 2023 au Canada serait vraisemblablement similaire à celui de 2022. Si la frontière terrestre au sud apparaît plus imperméable, les demandeurs d’asile arrivent dorénavant en plus grand nombre par les airs.

Après quelques mois, le constat se pose donc simplement : la fermeture de chemin Roxham ne semble pas avoir eu d’effet sur le nombre de demandeurs d’asile qui entrent au Canada. Le phénomène d’arrivée des migrants qui touchaient jusqu’à récemment principalement l’Europe et les États-Unis est désormais une réalité chez nous. Si cette tendance a été longtemps ignorée, elle devient maintenant incontournable.

Pour faire face à cette question de manière pragmatique, il faut davantage s’intéresser au continuum de services d’accueil et à leur coordination, une réflexion qui tarde à se faire. Une meilleure cohérence entre les politiques publiques devrait être recherchée afin de s’assurer de l’accueil et de l’intégration de ces migrants, mais aussi de l’atteinte des objectifs nationaux chers au Québec, notamment celui de la francisation et de l’accès égal à des opportunités.

À cet égard, un écueil d’envergure est la collaboration entre les différents ordres de gouvernement. Cette coordination entre les ordres de gouvernement et les organismes qui offrent la majorité des services d’installation et d’intégration doit reposer sur une séparation claire des pouvoirs et responsabilités, un alignement des stratégies ainsi qu’un financement proportionnel au niveau d’engagement de chacune des parties prenantes.

Échelle locale

Également, et la recherche est claire à cet effet, la coordination des services voués aux nouveaux arrivants doit être menée à l’échelle locale pour être optimale. Le gouvernement du Québec, qui est responsable des services d’accueil et d’intégration en vertu de l’entente qu’il a ratifiée avec le gouvernement fédéral en 1991, doit absolument s’appuyer sur les lieux de concertation municipaux ou régionaux qui ont développé l’expertise des défis et sur les ressources disponibles sur le terrain.

Pour l’instant, Québec, qui a transféré des compétences aux villes après l’abolition des conférences régionales des élus il y a presque 10 ans, peine à reconnaître le leadership de celles-ci dans la coordination des services locaux. Ses programmes et financements devraient être alignés sur les stratégies et les priorités locales, plutôt que d’en faire fi.

Les efforts et ressources seraient ainsi mieux alloués. De même, avec la mise en place des agents d’aide à l’intégration (les AAI, comme ils sont désignés par le milieu), Québec dédouble un service existant sans que ces agents aient la capacité d’arriver à la cheville de l’expertise qui s’est développée à travers les années dans les organismes communautaires.

L’arrivée des demandeurs d’asile crée d’ailleurs une pression immense dans les communautés, ses organismes et institutions, particulièrement dans la grande région de Montréal. Ce sont largement eux qui offrent les services d’installation, de francisation, pour l’aide à l’emploi ; ils accueillent les enfants dans les écoles, logent et équipent les familles, etc.

Or, les organismes sur le terrain vous le diront : pour faire connaître leurs services, il leur est souvent impossible d’entrer en contact avec les demandeurs d’asile pris en charge par PRAIDA, le programme québécois chargé des demandeurs d’asile. Ceux-ci finissent par accéder aux services des organismes du milieu, mais pas sans embûches.

Pour s’assurer de la pleine intégration des immigrants, notamment des demandeurs d’asile, et ce, dans l’intérêt de la société québécoise, Québec doit reconnaître le rôle stratégique joué par les communautés locales et s’assurer de les outiller adéquatement.

Responsabilité mondiale

En bref, il faut entrevoir une suite aux discussions concernant l’accueil des demandeurs d’asile, et ce, à tous les ordres de gouvernement. Il n’est pas étonnant que les décideurs aient bien voulu croire (du moins en apparence) que la fermeture du chemin Roxham aurait tout réglé : l’arrivée des migrants en Europe et aux États-Unis a largement polarisé les débats politiques depuis quelques années. La réalité canadienne demeure toutefois que le nombre de demandeurs d’asile qui passent ses frontières est minime par rapport à ce qui a été observé ailleurs.

À juste titre, la ministre de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration, Christine Fréchette, rappelait cet hiver que les demandeurs d’asile étaient avant tout des humains, exhortant ainsi à un peu d’humanité dans le débat public.

Les demandeurs d’asile sont admis officiellement au Canada comme réfugiés dans environ 50 % des cas après un processus administratif permettant d’évaluer leur demande. C’est donc dire que dans une large proportion, on juge qu’effectivement, leur sécurité et même leur vie sont menacées dans leur pays d’origine.

Établir ses pénates ici relève pour eux d’un exploit suivant un parcours difficile, et une chance inespérée de vivre en paix. Si ces migrants quittent leur terre natale, c’est qu’elle leur est devenue hostile pour de nombreuses raisons : groupes armés, conflits, persécution pour des motifs politiques et religieux, ainsi que les changements climatiques… Et bien sûr, les pays occidentaux ont aussi leur rôle à jouer, en amont, pour atténuer ces crises mondiales.

Source: Des demandeurs d’asile qui s’adaptent plutôt que de combattre en vain

Filed under Immigration, Refugees Tagged with , ,

Asylum claims followed Montreal AIDS summit marred by visa woes, planning issues [better header: “Almost one-sixth of guests at a major AIDS conference in Montreal last year who received Canadian visas ended up claiming asylum”]

2023/07/25 Leave a comment

Indicates that IRCC was correct in its caution regarding granting visas, arguably not cautious enough. Cavalier attitude by immigration lawyer, “Good for them. If this is their only way of claiming asylum in a country, then so be it,” is telling:

Almost one-sixth of guests at a major AIDS conference in Montreal last year who received Canadian visas ended up claiming asylum, according to internal data obtained by The Canadian Press.

The documents also show that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) struggled to work with the International AIDS Society as both tried to avoid a mass refusal of visas.

When the society’s conference got underway in Montreal in July 2022, dozens of delegates from Africa had been denied visas or never received responses to their applications. Some accused Ottawa of racism on stage, saying international gatherings should not return to Canada.

Source: Asylum claims followed Montreal AIDS summit marred by visa woes, planning issues

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →