Mr. Speaker, certainly there is no doubt that every Canadian, regardless of their gender, their sexual orientation, or their ethnicity should have the ability to move freely in an unencumbered way, and any instances that the member is referring to are ones that we take seriously.
The minister has met with Secretary Kelly, and they have shared information. I have to say that Secretary Kelly and the folks working with him have been incredibly good to work with and to have a dialogue back and forth with as situations emerge, and there are a number of recourses. Obviously, the decision on whether somebody may enter a country is solely at the discretion of the country that is doing the admitting. We cannot force the United States, or any other country, to accept anybody they choose not to.
However, it is imperative that we stand up and fight for Canadians' interests so that when they are crossing into the United States, they are treated fairly. We continue to have dialogue with Secretary Kelly on that point.
It is important to note that there a number of resources that folks have at their disposal. I could perhaps enumerate them offline, but I doubt I will have time to do so in my remarks here. If they think that they are treated unfairly by U.S. authorities, there are clear mechanisms for redress that have been in place by the U.S. government.
On the issue of the safe third party agreement, this is overseen by the United Nations. This ensures the proper facilitation of claimants on both sides of the border. It is working effectively. We continue to monitor it. It is important that both countries are working in tandem with one another to make sure that we do not have chaos in the management of asylum seekers.
In terms of those who are crossing at the border, it is true the numbers are up. They are around the levels that we saw in 2008 and 2001 when resources were actually less, so it is important to note that these levels fluctuate. However, we are monitoring them. The resources that we have currently are working effectively. We are going to make sure that we work with local authorities, the RCMP, and immigration to ensure that the process for people seeking asylum is done in a way that is thorough and effective.