Halifax’s Refugee Clinic calling for funding to aid asylum seekers

N.S. has welcomed 134 asylum seekers Nova Scotia has welcomed 134 asylum seekers who have entered Canada through an irregular border crossing in southern Quebec.

Four years ago, with a single step, Maribel Palacios Duarte’s life changed course.

She crossed into Canada border at Roxham Road in Quebec to seek asylum.

“I know it’s not legal but it’s a hope. It’s another place where you can go and find a hand,” said Palacio Duarte.

She and her family were fleeing Columbia where she had worked as a teacher, but was also involved in political campaigns and was receiving terrible death threats.

“We will kill your kids, we will kill your husband, we will kill you,” said Palacio Duarte.

The Roxham Road crossing at the U.S.-Canada border in Quebec is well-travelled. The federal government has said more than 39,000 asylum seekers crossed into Quebec last year prompting that province to ask for help. Atlantic Canada has answered.

At meeting of Canada’s immigration ministers Friday—ministers from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador pledged to welcome asylum seekers. The federal minister of immigration did not give a specific number of how many people may be transferred to the region.

“In New Brunswick right now we’ve actually received 57 asylum seekers,” said Arlene Dunn, New Brunswick’s minister responsible for immigration.

Nova Scotia has received 134 asylum seekers and is expecting more to arrive next week.

Newfoundland and Labrador is also preparing.

“We also know they’re fleeing unimaginable circumstances to be able provide a safe place for them to land, to start their new life, that’s our commitment,” said Jill Balser, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Immigration.

Refugee agencies, such as the Halifax Refugee Clinic are ready and wanting to help but are also being challenged.

“An unprecedented level of claimants all at once.  And represents about a year of our year case load in just a few weeks,” said Julie Chamagne, Executive Director of the Halifax Refugee Clinic.

There are calls for more money from Ottawa to help with supports such as more legal aid to help process the asylum seekers refugee claims. CTV News asked federal Minister Sean Fraser about the file.

“I don’t have all the details of next steps today but it’s a challenging situation,” Fraser said. “That I recognize needs additional support and I’m working towards to provide that support.”

Palacio Duarte said the first door she knocked on when she arrived in Halifax was the Halifax Refugee Clinic. The organization helped her and her family find housing and jobs and also helped process her claim. Through a tribunal, Palacio Duarte and her family have been deemed protected persons.

Back in Columbia, she was a teacher. In Halifax she’s been working in retail and immigration and next week she a new job at the Halifax Refugee Clinic.

“Always in my life I have just one pathway and it’s helping people,” said Palacio Duarte. “And I’m always trying to do that.”

Giving hope and help to people who will arrive next.

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