Asylum seekers arriving via Roxham Road are driving up the number of welfare recipients as the federal government delays issuing work permits. Just as a last resort, it’s costing 20 million more a month to Quebec, which is asking Ottawa to foot the bill.
Posted at 5:00 am
According to the latest statement from the Department of Employment and Social Solidarity, 48,835 able-bodied adults on the island of Montreal received welfare benefits last November. That’s an increase of 5% from the previous month and 73.3% in one year. In November 2021 there were 28,179.
“What we have seen over the past year is that the increase is mainly due to asylum seekers. This is a situation we see particularly in Montreal,” noted Catherine Tragnée, community organizer for the Quebec People’s Common Front for Social Welfare.
“The number of adult recipients of social assistance programs is increasing due to the increasing number of asylum seekers receiving benefits,” confirms the Ministry for Employment and Social Solidarity (MESS) in an email.
The number of asylum seekers receiving social assistance on the 1st of the month has increased from 12,958 in 2021 to 37,754 in 2022. According to MESS statistics, these are actually concentrated in Montreal in almost all cases.
“For a long time we thought immigration was a world in a silo, separate from other worlds,” comments Professor Chedly Belkhodja, Director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Immigration (CEPI) at Concordia University. . We provide specific services to immigrants, and immigrants will not find themselves asking for services in other places intended for vulnerable people. That’s where we wake up. We see vulnerability issues affecting different populations [y compris la population immigrante]. »
On January 23, community groups publicly testified to their exhaustion at the growing needs of asylum seekers who use their services. The Round Table of Organizations Serving Refugees and Immigrants (TCRI) calls for immediate relief from governments.
In Quebec as a whole, 97,637 people were on unrestricted welfare in November 2022, compared with 75,286 a year ago, an increase of 30%.
Deadlines for work permits
The dramatic increase in the number of asylum seekers in the country is causing lengthy delays in the Canadian government issuing work permits. Beneficiaries who cannot legally earn a living are forced to continue to receive social assistance.
Given the federal government’s delays in obtaining work permits, asylum seekers stay on emergency financial aid for an average of 10.5 months.
Catherine Poulin, Spokesperson for the Department for Employment and Social Solidarity
Last November, Radio-Canada reported that Ottawa was implementing the temporary public policy aimed at granting asylum seekers work permits a month after arrival, rather than a year as is often the case.
“Quebec is closely monitoring the impact of initiatives announced by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) aimed at reducing processing times,” said Arianne Méthot, communications manager at the Department of Immigration. Franciscation and Integration (MIFI).
The increased traffic at Emploi-Québec’s offices comes with a bill. Social assistance benefits fell from 85 million in November 2021 to 105 million in the same month in 2022, an inflation of 20 million.
Under the welfare program, the average monthly benefit is $801.50.
Quebec covers the cost of a range of services for asylum seekers, including financial assistance as a last resort, MIFI says.
It is the Regional Program for the Reception and Integration of Asylum Seekers (PRAIDA), which provides services to asylum seekers and persons in the process of regularization of status. On its website, PRAIDA writes that medical care for asylum seekers is guaranteed by the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP).
The Legault government continues to expect to finalize a long-term agreement with Ottawa to have the federal government reimburse the cost of hosting asylum seekers, MIFI writes.
Roxham Street
The increased inflow of welfare benefits coincides with the dramatic rise in the number of asylum seekers entering the country irregularly via Roxham Road.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, PRESS ARCHIVE
Asylum seekers entering the country via Roxham Road are intercepted on the spot by police.
In 2018, 18,215 irregular asylum applications were counted in Quebec, a pre-pandemic peak two years after migrants flocked to Roxham Road. This number subsequently declined due to the pandemic. It exploded last year. More than 39,000 irregular applications were registered last year.
Canada’s asylum system is the sole responsibility of the federal government under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, MESS says.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada did not immediately respond to requests we sent to them on Wednesday.
Seven things to know about Roxham Road
- Located in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Montérégie, it is an increasingly popular irregular entry route for asylum seekers wishing to enter Canada from the United States.
- Under the 2004 Ottawa-Washington Safe Third Countries Agreement, a person who has applied for asylum in the United States will be turned away at the border crossing if they wish to enter Canada, and vice versa, hence Roxham Street’s popularity.
- He first made headlines in 2016 when the topic of asylum seekers came up in public.
- After peaking in visitor numbers in 2018, it closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic and reopened a year and a half later in November 2021.
- Last year, 39,171 asylum seekers were intercepted at Roxham Road, with a peak of 4,689 intercepts in December, a 26% month-on-month increase, which seems to indicate the phenomenon is not abating.
- In recent months, about 20% of asylum seekers arriving this way have been transferred to Ontario, while the others remain in Quebec.
- Quebec covers all costs related to receiving asylum seekers, a bill it then sends to the federal government according to the number of migrants received during the year.
Vincent Larin, La Presse