The tightening of the Canada-United States border worries several field organizations. These longtime observers fear the new rules will force asylum seekers to transit through more dangerous locations and resort to professional smugglers. The announcement could also speed up border arrivals in the coming days, they said.
Although several details are still unknown, sources confirmed on Thursday that the entire border would now have the same status as the official entry points. This change means Canada can send back to the United States a person attempting to cross through it on an irregular route such as Roxham Road.
“We are very concerned because it is the worst possible scenario,” said Stephan Reichhold, director of the Roundtable of Organizations Serving Refugees and Immigrants (TCRI). “If this is confirmed, we believe that the movement of irregular migration across the border will increase, as we have seen elsewhere in Mexico or Europe, for example,” he continues.
“I’m scared to see how it’s applied. Roxham Road closed, all other roads elsewhere will be opened,” says Frantz André, a member of the Action Committee for People without Status (CAPSS). “The families who arrive at the border, where are they sent back to? asks Bonaventure Otshudi, director of newcomer services at the Hamilton/Niagara Community Health Center, which helps asylum seekers transferred to Niagara Falls.
Asylum seekers might choose to traverse locations that are less guarded or more remote and therefore potentially more risky. The geography between the two neighboring countries is dotted with large bodies of water, mountains, forests or, in winter, freezing plains. “It’s going to blow up the industry of professional smugglers who know they can charge big bucks,” says Mr. Reichhold.
So far, the migration journey to Roxham Road has not been underground, with asylum seekers taking buses or taxis in broad daylight. The new terms of the agreement “will urge migrants to attempt more dangerous crossings to remote parts of Canada and, in some cases, force them to rely on smugglers to make the precarious journey,” warned Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary-general of the Anglophone Section by Amnesty International Canada.
Mr André also sees these new measures as a violation of the fundamental principle of non-refoulement of the Geneva Refugee Convention: “What message are we sending? We disregard our signature,” he analyses. Then he lets go disappointed: “I didn’t think it would come to this in Canada. »
The way in which these new restrictions will be applied also affects the organizations that receive asylum seekers. According to our sources, Canada has committed to taking in 15,000 more people on a regular basis, but no one has been able to describe the mechanism. Will there be selected countries of origin? Is this sorting done on arrival? “Border officials are not in a position to make such a choice,” says Mr André, pointing to difficulties, especially during the restrictions imposed by the pandemic.
The admission of 15,000 migrants is “insufficient”, regrets Bonaventure Otshudi, who was happy about the arrival of French-speaking asylum seekers in the Niagara region. For the region’s Francophones, “this is not good news,” he thunders. The arrival of asylum seekers in Niagara Falls and the neighboring city of Welland is “a good thing,” he continues.
The Safe Third Country Agreement between Ottawa and Washington has so far only extended to official land ports of entry. A person crossing any other location on the border, including Roxham Road, could therefore apply for asylum. “The Safe Third Country Agreement should simply be withdrawn as the United States is not a safe country for asylum seekers,” said France-Isabelle Langlois, Executive Director of Amnesty International Canada Francophone.