Mr. Speaker, I hope the government can agree that forcing a Ghanaian LGBTQ asylum seeker to lose eight fingers because of frostbite in a desperate attempt to cross over from the U.S. to Canada is unjust. I hope the government can agree that forcing a pregnant woman to carry her crying toddler across the border in the freezing cold is unjust. I hope the government can agree that having a woman die of hypothermia in the hope of finding a better life in Canada is a preventable tragedy, and yet the government has done nothing to rectify this injustice.
These are the direct effects of the safe third country agreement. The xenophobic, anti-refugee political climate in the U.S., combined with the inadequacies of the U.S. asylum system such as lack of access to legal counsel, results in genuine refugee claims being denied. So far, the IRB has found that about 69% of these asylum claims are valid. These are the direct effects of the safe third country agreement.
To be clear, so far these are irregular crossers, not illegal crossers. Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act recognizes the principle of international refugee law prescribed in the Refugee Convention, that a state shall not impose penalties on refugees who may enter without authorization. Canadian immigration law clearly stipulates that seeking asylum through an unmarked border crossing is not illegal, and the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship should know this. That is why it is so disappointing that the minister has wilfully chosen to ignore this fact and cede to Conservative pressure by using the term “illegal” at a recent committee meeting. Let me emphasize that the words “illegal” and “irregular” are not, as the minister has stated, “interchangeable”. As a former refugee lawyer, he should not be ignorant of this fact, especially at a time when irregular crossings are increasing and occurring as a result of the parameters set out in the safe third country agreement.
Despite the government's attempts to turn a blind eye and sweep this issue under the rug, there is no evidence of its going away. The numbers speak for themselves. Sixty-five million people are forcibly displaced globally. In 2016, there were 2,464 asylum claims made by irregular crossers, and in 2017 that figure rose to 20,593. In the first two months of 2018, there have been over 3,000 irregular crossers.
The organizations faced with the daily impact of increased irregular border crossings are left stranded by the government. The IRB faces a backlog of 43,000 cases, with an increase of 2,100 cases per month. Despite this trend, there are 24 vacancies for board members at the IRB.
Mr. Aterman, in his testimony to the standing committee, explained that the lack of funding prevents him from attracting board members to fill these vacancies. He explained that the funding is limited to two years, which means that the organization can offer only short-term contracts to prospective board members.
This is not good enough. The government needs to fund the NGOs on the ground, which are scrambling to address the issue. It needs to support the provinces, which are trying to meet these demands. The government needs to step up and do what is right, suspend the safe third country agreement and ensure that there are resources for the NGOs and the provinces, which are trying to do all the heavy lifting.