Simply closing the Roxham Road border crossing in Quebec will lead to a surge in irregular crossings elsewhere in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says.
He made the comments to reporters in Richmond Hill, Ont., Wednesday, amid calls from the opposition and Quebec’s provincial government to quickly close the crossing due to a rising influx of migrants entering there irregularly.
Trudeau said the only way to “effectively” close the crossing — which sits on the border of Quebec and New York state — is to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States.
“The only way to effectively shut down not just Roxham Road, but the entire border to these irregular crossings, is to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement, which is serious work that we are doing as a government right now,” he said.
“We’re making real progress, but until we manage to do that, we need to continue to support our immigration system. We need to make sure that the resources are there, particularly for the province of Quebec that has been stepping up significantly in accepting people fleeing for a better life, people crossing irregularly, and we will continue to be there for Quebec.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on the federal government Tuesday to close the Roxham Road border crossing within 30 days. Poilievre blamed Trudeau for the migrant surge, accusing him of encouraging irregular crossings at Roxham Road and of not addressing a backlog of refugee claims.
The Conservative leader also argued Trudeau had already demonstrated that Roxham Road could be closed without violating the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, and urged the government to do so again. During that time, the entire Canada-U.S. border was shut down.
The Safe Third Country Agreement requires asylum seekers arriving in Canada or the U.S. to make their claim in the first country they arrive in, and forbids them from first arriving in one country and then making a claim in another. However, migrants who cross the border between official posts can claim asylum after they are intercepted by police as they are already on Canadian soil.
Trudeau said “simplistic solutions” won’t properly address the problem.
“If Pierre Poilievre wants to build a wall at Roxham Road, someone could do that. The problem is we have 6,000 kilometres worth of undefended, shared border with the United States. … People will choose to cross elsewhere,” he said.
“People can toss out simplistic solutions, that’s their right. But if someone wants to seriously solve the problem, you’re going to have to roll up your sleeves and do the work as we are doing.”
Poilievre’s comments came as Quebec Premier Francois Legault this week called on Trudeau to make the Roxham Road crossings a top priority for next month’s meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, and to renegotiate the agreement.
He reportedly told Trudeau in a letter on Sunday that the pact has pushed asylum seekers to Roxham Road, and that a renegotiated treaty should apply to all entry points.
On Tuesday, the Globe and Mail published an English-language letter by Legault in which he said the number of would-be asylum seekers entering Quebec “has exploded,” pushing Quebec’s social services to their limits. The premier also pitched other provinces to take in some of those migrants.
The public letter didn’t include concerns reportedly expressed by Legault in his letter to Trudeau that the influx of migrants is threatening the French language in Montreal, or his request for more money to pay for the costs of caring for asylum seekers.
Federal statistics show that more than 39,000 people claimed asylum after they were intercepted by the RCMP crossing Canada’s land border into Quebec in 2022, compared with only 369 in the rest of the country. In total, around 64 per cent of all asylum claims in Canada in 2022 were made in Quebec.
Last year’s numbers were a sharp increase from 2021, when 4,095 migrants were intercepted on Quebec’s southern border.
Poilievre did not offer specifics about how to address the immigration backlog — which currently sits at more than 910,000 applications — but did say money can be redirected from policing Roxham Road to boosting the legal immigration system, in turn reducing wait times.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser on Wednesday called Poilievre’s comments “reckless,” saying his suggestion was not a “thoughtful approach.”
Fraser echoed Trudeau’s concerns of migrants flowing to other irregular crossings, adding the Safe Third Country Agreement needs renegotiating. He will be speaking with his American counterpart over the next couple of weeks on the agreement, he said.
— with files from Sean Boynton and The Canadian Press