In recent months — especially since the start of President Trump’s administration, his travel ban involving seven predominantly-Muslim countries and indications of plans to increase the deportation of illegal immigrants — a substantial number of people have crossed into Canada via the Manitoba and Quebec borders with the U.S. They are doing so in order to claim refugee status, despite having entered the U.S. as refugees or illegal immigrants. A number come from predominantly-Muslim countries such as Somalia. They are crossing at open border points to avoid being turned around at Custom’s land crossings due to the ‘Safe Third Country Agreement’ with the U.S. This agreement has been in effect for more than 12 years. The agreement’s premise is that the U.S. is a perfectly good place to claim asylum, and people have to apply in which country they arrive in first. So far, we are not talking about thousands such as is the case in Europe, but hundreds.
Already, there are some Canadian politicians, such as Michelle Rempel and Tony Clement of the federal Conservative Party, who are demanding that the federal government act to stop the flow of people illegally crossing the United States border into Canada. Just how you do this is not easy given the length of the open border! Unlike President Trump, Canada has no intention of building a wall along the border. The resources necessary to police the entire border are simply not there. These refugees, including women and children, are not seen as a security threat and normally present themselves to Canadian authorities in order to apply for refugee status. The easiest way to stop the illegal border crossings is to suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement and allow people to request refugee status at official border crossings without endangering the lives of these people.
Public opinion in the past has been favourable as to the number of refugees coming to Canada. A recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute suggests that close to half of Canadians polled say the government has hit the mark with 40,000 total refugees (Syrian and other nationalities) expected to be entering the country this year. However, 41 percent say that the total is too high in what has become a notable split of opinion. The reports of an increasing number of refugees crossing into Canada could influence future public opinion on the matter. The above poll also found that one-in-four Canadians believe that this country should have responded to President Trump’s executive order by adopting the same policy – including a temporary ban on Syrian refugees.
While legal immigration is important to Canada, the acceptance of refugees and their numbers is contentious, especially those that come from predominantly-Muslim countries where terrorism is a concern. There is a segment of the Canadian population that wants to restrict their entry and increase security vetting. Whether or not you agree, there is no question that the refugee issue has become a touchy one. Hopefully, Canada will not fall into the same illogical and ideological trap that occurred in the U.S. However, there is little doubt that the question of how open Canada is to accepting more refugees will be severely tested in the coming months.
FROLITICKS 