Tories talk tough on refugees

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This article was published 28/03/2017 (2579 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Looking out onto a bleak landscape next to the Salvation Army shelter in downtown Winnipeg, an asylum seeker from west Africa faces an uncertain future in Canada as he awaits his refugee claim. When the man — who asked not to be identified — fled the United States for Canada on March 3 with a surge of migrants walking over the border near Emerson, there was no army patrolling the border or threats from Canadian politicians to “get tough” on them.

That was before Tory leadership candidates Maxime Bernier and Kevin O’Leary torqued their campaign rhetoric this week, proposing that Canada send the army to patrol the border and ignore refugee claimants’ legal right to a hearing in Canada.

Legal experts in Winnipeg dismiss their proposals as “dangerous” and “ridiculous.” But Manitoba politicians whose constituents live close to the border say at least the candidates are sparking a discussion at the federal level about the surge of asylum seekers.

Legally, politically and practically, O’Leary and Bernier’s proposals won’t fly, said constitutional law expert Prof. Karen Busby at the University of Manitoba.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that refugee claimants in Canada are entitled to an oral hearing, said Busby. She can’t see the federal government overriding that decision with the notwithstanding clause to deny asylum seekers a fair hearing.

“No legal scholar in Canada would say that it can’t be used, but the political liabilities of using it are very dangerous,” Busby said. “Canadians are proud of their history of how they treat refugees. I can’t see Canadians wanting to change that.”

The RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency have received more resources for patrolling the border and picking up and processing refugee claimants, but there’s been no indication that the situation is out of control or that sending in the military — a costly proposal — is warranted, said Busby.

“Our border is so big that if we were going to have the army patrolling it, that would cost us way more than hearings for refugee claims.”

The Conservative MP for the area, Ted Falk (Provencher), won’t say if he supported the leadership candidates’ ideas, but lauded them for airing them publicly at the national level.

“Several of the Conservative leadership candidates are attempting to get the discussion moving on this issue, proposing ideas for Canadians to debate publicly,” Falk said in an email to the Free Press. “The Liberals, however, are unwilling to put forward any possible solutions or even debate this in the House of Commons,” he said.

“The Liberal government has all of the resources but none of the ideas. Their only promise to Canadians is that they will ‘monitor’ the situation. The residents living along the border and the thousands of people patiently waiting to come to this great country of ours expect our leaders to ensure that Canada preserves a secure border and a consistent and fair system for all those seeking to make Canada their new home.”

The reeve of Emerson-Franklin said he wants to get the discussion going, but doesn’t want to see the army patrolling the border. “I think it’s too extreme,” Greg Janzen said.

The reeve said he made that clear to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale when he visited Emerson on March 4. “I said ‘Do not send the army — that’s the wrong impression that we don’t want to send out,’ ” Janzen said Tuesday. “What’s the army going to do? They can’t stop them from crossing.”

He feels that the RCMP and border officials, so far, “are doing a pretty good job, but the numbers keep climbing,” with warm weather bringing more border jumpers.

“The other morning, police vehicles were driving back and forth like crazy, so we’re assuming it’s a pretty big group that arrived,” with more to come, Janzen predicted. “They’re basically coming every day now.”

The reeve can’t say how many are arriving because the RCMP and border officials won’t tell him.

He — and the media — are no longer getting regular updates from the RCMP on how many refugee claimants they’re intercepting there every week. He said he was told that the gag order came from Ottawa.

“They’re trying to keep it quiet,” Janzen said. “That’s the frustrating part for us.”

He’s glad federal politicians are raising the issue of asylum seekers.

“There’s got to be a better way than what’s happening right now,” Janzen said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca