Asylum seekers still crossing into Manitoba, but fewer than in 2017

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This article was published 14/08/2018 (2079 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Last month saw a slight uptick in asylum seekers crossing into Manitoba from the United States, though the numbers remain much lower than the winter 2017 peak.

The RCMP released data this week showing that in Manitoba, officers had taken 51 asylum claimants into custody in July, a jump from 31 people in the previous month.

 

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A spokesman for Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen was quick to point out that each month of 2018 has seen fewer claimants arriving in Manitoba than any of the summer months last year.

"July and August were big months last year, and we built a contingency plan [for 2018] based on that," Mathieu Genest said.

While authorities are still compiling data for August, Genest said none of the federal agencies has informed the minister’s office of a sudden spike, suggesting the pace of crossings across Canada (overwhelming in Quebec) has remained around 50 people daily this month.

In Manitoba, the peak of 170 people came in March 2017.

Meanwhile, Quebec saw its highest month for crossings in July 2017, when almost 3,000 people entered. Another spike came this spring when 2,479 people entered that province in April. July’s 1,552 crossings into Quebec represents a quarter more crossings than the previous month, but also half the peak of last year.

 

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Genest said Ottawa is still talking with Manitoba officials about how much the province should be compensated for asylum seekers, after the province submitted a formal request in April.

In June, Ottawa gave $3 million to Manitoba and a proportionate amount to Quebec and Ontario to deal with housing asylum seekers. Premier Brian Pallister has called that a good start, but has asked for a total of $8 million.

The federal Tories have castigated the Liberals for creating what they call a parallel refugee system that undercuts housing spots, refugee-hearing waitlists and integration supports for those arriving through normal means — an argument that seems to be buoying the party’s support.

A late July poll by Angus-Reid poll found two-thirds of Canadians calling the issue "a crisis" with "too many people" for social services to handle — despite the number and ratio of asylum crossers being drastically lower than almost any Western nation.

The survey found 48 per cent of respondents saying Tory leader Andrew Scheer was most trusted on the issue, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ranking 35 per cent and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh at 16 per cent.

Trudeau shuffled his Cabinet last month, dedicating a minister to "border security and organized crime reduction." He later assigned another minister to lead the task force that works with provincial governments, after a heated spat between Hussen and his Ontario counterpart at a Winnipeg meeting, over whether to call asylum claimants "illegal" or "irregular."

Asylum seekers have been avoiding formal border posts to evade a rule that would send most back to the U.S., instead entering Canada on-foot through towns like Emerson, Man. That breaks federal law, but a United Nations decree absolves asylum claimants from prosecution if they report immediately to police and undergo security checks.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca