Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation.
I've been a member of the Barreau du Québec since 1992. I was a member at the Immigration and Refugee Commission for 11 years. From 2012 to 2015, I was a lecturer at the Cégep de Saint-Laurent in the administrative techniques program, more specifically in the immigration consultancy program.
I am a member of the Association québécoise des avocats et avocates en droit de l'immigration and the Association des avocats de la défense de Montréal. I practice exclusively in immigration law at Handfield et et associés, avocats. I also work as an inspector on behalf of the Barreau du Québec's professional inspection service.
I contributed to Démantèlement tranquille, published by Éditions Québec Amérique in 2018. I also wrote two works published in 2020 and 2021, respectively, by Wilson et Lafleur, Immigration et criminalité au Canada: quand l'expulsion devient inévitable, and Fatima: le parcours d'une réfugiée.
With any issues connected to the reception of refugees, it's impossible to ignore the safe third country agreement.
Under the agreement, anyone who comes to a Canadian-American border crossing will have their asylum claim deemed ineligible and sent back to the United States, unless they are covered by an exception provided in the agreement; this could, for example, involve an unaccompanied minor or having a family member who lives in Canada.
However, if this person crosses the border irregularly, that person will not be covered by the safe third country agreement and the asylum claim will be considered eligible. That's why so many thousands of people have decided to cross the border irregularly in recent years in order to request Canada's protection. Since January 2022, 99.3% of these arrivals are in Quebec.
Under the safe third country agreement, people are not entitled to appeal to the refugee appeal division in the event of denial of the asylum claim if the claim was made at a land border crossing for regular entry. However, if they cross the border at Roxham Road, they are entitled to appeal the denial of their asylum claim by the Immigration and Refugee Board.
In short, all these factors combined to encourage asylum seekers to cross the border irregularly because their claim will be deemed eligible, they won't be sent back to the United States, and they will have a right of appeal in the event their claim is denied.
The government is aware of the situation, which has lasted for years.
From January to October 2022, more than 30,000 people crossed the border at Roxham Road. If the trend continues, there will be 50,000 by the end of the year. The previous record was set in 2017, when 18,836 asylum seekers crossed the border in this way.
In early October 2022, the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, said that he expected his city to receive over 100,000 migrants expelled from the state of Texas. He said that approximately one third of these migrants wanted to go to other destinations. We have good reason to believe that one of these destinations will be Roxham Road. In Portland, Maine, there are hundreds of migrants dreaming about Roxham Road.
It's the system, not the people, who need to be condemned. In many instances, these people are being exploited by unscrupulous human traffickers. It's important to know how to welcome them, and even more important to know how to integrate them appropriately and effectively, within our capacity to do so.
In view of the housing crisis, the shortage of openings at day care centres, the shortage of family doctors and teachers, and the challenges of francization, combined with the fact that the immigration system is full of cracks, some people have been talking about a potential humanitarian crisis. Many asylum seekers will also, in spite of themselves, become homeless.
The number of asylum seekers crossing the border at Roxham Road will also have an impact on claim processing delays, and also on the work of the refugee protection division members. It's an issue of interference and deteriorating working conditions for them.
The time has come to firmly shut down this irregular and unofficial access point at the sadly famous Roxham Road.
It's important to underscore the fact that the government of Canada has the power to unilaterally suspend the safe third-party country agreement, under article 10 of this agreement which states: "Either Party may, upon written notice to the other Party, suspend for a period of up to three months application of this Agreement. Such suspension may be renewed for additional periods of up to three months. Either Party may, with the agreement of the other Party, suspend any part of this Agreement."
The status quo is therefore not the answer. All that is needed is a bare minimum of political will. It's high time to do something.
Thank you for your attention.