The number of refugees from Turkey crossing Roxham Road has skyrocketed in recent years.
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Their number has jumped from 80 arrivals in 2020 to over 5,500 in 2022, a surge that has surprised even Montreal’s Turkish community.
After the Haitians, the Turks are the second largest group to enter illegally via the famous Roxham Road.
According to our information, they almost all make the same journey: they arrive in Mexico by plane from Turkey, cross the American border at El Paso in Texas and then go back to Quebec.
Kurdish minority
They are mostly Kurds, an ethnic minority who face widespread discrimination in Turkey, where access to employment is difficult.
“Being Kurdish in Turkey is very problematic because of state violence and oppression against us,” says Veysi (not her real name), who we met at the Turkish Community Center in Montreal.
“Repression, he continues, has increased in recent years and many Kurds have gone abroad. »
Sudden influx
Among Montreal’s already established Turks, this sudden influx of refugees comes as a surprise.
Omer F. Ozen
Editor of the newspaper Our Anatolia
“It’s very new and surprising because there are so many of them. They are mostly Kurds,” says Ömer F. Özen, editor of the community newspaper Our Anatolia.
In his view, Canada’s strengths are very attractive to them.
“Canada provides housing and welfare [aux réfugiés] ; they heard that. »
“But there is someone who has shown the way,” he continues; word got around. »
The Turkish media have something to do with it (see other text).
Veysi explains that this is how he learned how to get to Canada.
“Turkish media talks a lot about how migrants from our country go to Mexico to go to the United States and then to Canada,” he says.
discrimination
At the Yves-Thériault Franking Centre, another young man of Kurdish origin explains what made him leave his country. He replied in Turkish by typing on his mobile phone: “ülkemizde ayrımcılık”.
In French, it means “discrimination in our country [pour les Kurdes] “.
The Turkish media are interested in the phenomenon
Turkish media present Canada as a destination where migrants are welcomed with open arms.
“Dream of a New Life” is the headline, translated from Turkish, of an article in the Istanbul mass newspaper Milliyet (The Nation) about refugee applicants who have arrived illegally in Canada.
Screenshot from the Journal Milliyet
Turkish media describe the route taken by asylum seekers to Canada.
“From the moment you set foot in Canada, you are under the protection of the Canadian government,” said Agri Yk, 28, in the report released in April.
The latter is excited about his permanent residency in Canada: “Once you get residency, you have the same rights as everyone here except to vote and be elected.
“The most important thing,” he says, “you get what you pay for. I work three days a week and make $450 a month. »
welfare
For his part, 24-year-old Hasan K. says in the article that he is not currently working, but “the government [canadien] gives support of $750”.
“I live with [cet argent] “, he specifies.
This sum of $750 is the monthly welfare paid to asylum seekers in Quebec.
Although Roxham Road is not directly named in the Milliyet article, it is understood that the two men used it to illegally enter Canada.
Screenshot from the Independent Turkey Site
Both first came to Mexico from Turkey, then crossed the United States to ascend to New York State.
They then took a taxi towards the Canadian border, which is typical of the route one takes to get to Roxham Road.
Canada is popular for another reason. Since 2018, Turkish nationals applying for refugee status in Canada have benefited from preferential treatment of their files due to their already high refugee status.
According to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, 96% of Turkish nationals who applied for asylum have been accepted since 2018.
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