More asylum seekers will illegally cross the Canada-U.S. border as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to pursue anti-immigration policies and harsh winter weather turns to spring, says one legal expert. A trend she worries will have deadly consequences without fresh policy action from Ottawa.
Figures released by the Canadian Border Services Agency and the RCMP show a notable uptick in refugee claimants making perilous runs for the border at rural points of entry in Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia in recent months.
Toronto-based immigration lawyer Chantal Desloges says Canada should brace for more refugees who are willing to put their lives on the line for a chance at a life in Canada.
“I am very concerned that, at some point, we are going to end up with a frozen body somewhere in Manitoba,” she told CTV’s Your Morning on Tuesday. “We need to show leadership in this area to figure out a solution to this problem where people aren’t … forced to crawl through the snow with a baby in the middle of the night.”
Desloges argues the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement is the main reason why so many are choosing to cross illegally. The policy is part of a multi-pronged border co-operation framework designed to help both governments manage asylum claims from individuals arriving in North America.
The agreement requires refugees to seek protection in the first safe country they arrive in. The United States is the only country considered safe by Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
“It operates so as to stop people from entering Canada from the U.S. to make a refugee claim. However, it does not apply if you enter the border at an unregulated point and then make your claim once you are inside Canada,” said Desloges.
She’s not the only legal authority to suggest there are major flaws in the agreement.
A group of Canadian law professors sent a letter to Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen last month, requesting that Canada back out of the agreement over Trump’s executive order banning citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering, and discussion of using torture tactics to extract information from terror suspects.
Hussen told CTV News on Jan. 31, that there will be no changes to Canada’s immigration policies at this time.
“When you do not allow people to present themselves at the border crossing and properly make a claim, you drive them into the hands of human smugglers and you end up with the situation we are in now, where people get an advantage by sneaking across the border,” said Desloges.
She says the conditions in the U.S., where refugees are often confined to detention centres for long periods of time and forced to rely on lawyers offering their services on a pro bono basis, made Canada an ideal destination long before Trump was elected. His actions since taking office have dramatically added to this perception, she says.
“With the political climate and all the hysteria in the U.S. right now, I certainly couldn’t blame someone from another country …. for feeling a little bit insecure,” said Desloges.
For many refugees living in the U.S., the cold may be the only thing holding them back.
“We are definitely going to see more, especially if the weather starts to improve,” she said. “As long as the administration to the south of our border keeps up with their immigration policies, it is going to continue driving people north.”
