Tory leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday called for the irregular Roxham Road border crossing to be closed, but avoided questions about one of his MPs refusing to help a family using it to enter the country.
At a press conference on Parliament Hill, his first in 2024, he told reporters he was in favor of legal immigration but could understand the desperation that drives migrants to enter Canada through the unofficial entry point south of Montreal.
“I understand why desperate people are trying to cross there,” he said. “Our system is now so slow and so broken.”
Poilievre pointed to the fact that the Federal Department of Immigration currently has a backlog of nearly 1.1 million applications to process, which was higher during lockdown periods in the first two years of the COVID pandemic. -19.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada reported that as of the end of November, there were 1.09 million applications in the queue that exceeded the department’s service standard, an issue that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is addressing. is committed to solving.
The Tory leader argued on Tuesday that fixing the problem could reduce the number of people crossing unofficial entry points such as Roxham Road.
“It’s not legal to cross over there. It’s a reality. It’s not legal to cross over there.”
Thousands of asylum seekers have entered the country through official ports of entry over the past few years and then claimed refugee status once in Canada.
Those coming from the United States through official crossing points may be turned away under the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States, on the basis that applicants have access to asylum processes fair south of the border.
Radio-Canada reported last month that Quebec Conservative MP Richard Martel recently refused to help a family facing deportation after entering Canada via Roxham Road in 2018, calling them “illegal refugees”.
Poilievre did not respond directly when asked about Martel’s comments on Tuesday, but said the Liberal government should renegotiate the Canada-US deal “in order to close the Roxham Road.”
He said Trudeau should instead fix the system so that people enter through official ports of entry: “Renegotiate the deal with the Americans and speed up immigration processing in general.”
In December, in a French-language interview with The Canadian Press, José Nicola Lopez said his sister-in-law Leticia Cruz and her son entered Canada via Roxham Road to join their relatives in 2018.
He said she did so because she feared being deported under former President Donald Trump’s policies and feared that a possible return to her home country of El Salvador would her a target for street gangs.
Lopez said at the time that he found Martel’s comments “offensive” and “ignorant.” After Cruz was unable to get help from Martel, whom she and her son call home in the Chicoutimi riding, Bloc Québécois MP Mario Simard said he worked with the Minister of Immigration Sean Fraser to help the family avoid deportation.
Fraser, the Bloc and the NDP criticized Martel’s comments as lacking in compassion.
In a recent interview with Radio-Canada, Martel declined to elaborate on the case.
Speaking in French, he said that the file was complex and that he refused to help knowing that the Bloc was able to do so. He said he would likely make the same decision if a similar file fell on his desk, adding that it’s a question of “values”.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on January 10, 2023.
“Internet evangelist. Extreme communicator. Subtly charming alcohol aficionado. Typical tv geek.”