Refugee/Migrant Crisis

pgs

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Nov 29, 2008
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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 — like the United States is doing with Mexico — right now.

“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. News to the USA, but Trudeau said it so it MUST be true!!

“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 because…Quebec. Duh!”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on the federal government Tuesday to close the Roxham Road border crossing within 30 days. Poilievre told Trudeau to just do what Biden is doing to Lopez Obrador right now. “What’s good for the Goose is good for the Gander ya’ Fuck’n Muppet!” accusing him of encouraging irregular crossings at Roxham Road and of not addressing a backlog of refugee claims.
There could be any number of Roxham Roads if we let them happen .
 

spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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'Birth tourism' on the rise in Canada
Author of the article:Kevin Connor
Published Feb 24, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read

A report by the Department of Immigration says the incidence of suspected “birth tourism” is about 2,500 a year.


These are foreign pregnant mothers on short term visits to Canada.


“The number of estimated deliveries by short term visitors, i.e. ‘residual’ deliveries, shows an increasing trend in recent years from around 800 annually in 2010 to around 2,500 in 2017,” said the report An Examination Of In-Hospital Deliveries.

Researchers cross-referenced immigration records with hospital births by foreign mothers who paid for medical care.

“Of some 265,000 hospital deliveries annually around 92 to 93% are by mothers who are Canadian citizens or landed immigrants, wrote researchers. Around one to two percent, approximately 6,000 annually in recent years, were by temporary residents in Canada,” said Hospital Deliveries.


“However, the 6,000 included cases where fathers were Canadian or foreign mothers had a legitimate reason to be in Canada. More specifically around 4,000 births were by temporary foreign workers, more than 1,000 by international students and around 1,000 by refugee claimants and temporary resident permit holders annually.”

The report points out there have been numerous media reports on the issue and petitions calling for the government to implement measures to reduce or eliminate the practice.

Which births in Canada should be attributed to “birth tourism” has not been officially defined.

Under the 1947 Citizenship Act, babies born here are entitled to full benefits as Canadians.

“Some say that Canadian citizenship should only be granted on an automatic basis to those born in Canada if their parents are Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Others say that Canadian citizenship should continue to be granted on an automatic basis to anyone born in Canada even if their parents are only here temporarily or illegally,” said a 2015 Tracking Study questionnaire by the department.

Fifty-seven percent supported revoking citizenship from children born to temporary residents or illegal migrants.

Thirty-nine percent supported the law as it stood.

The findings were based on interviews with 3,028 Canadians.

“The problem is that if these people born here don’t get citizenship here, they won’t be able to get citizenship anywhere,” immigration lawyer Peter Edelmann of Vancouver, then-executive with the immigration law section of the Canadian Bar Association, said in an earlier interview.

“You would wind up with stateless individuals.”
 

spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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Criminals find electronic visa system 'workarounds' to enter Canada
Author of the article:Kevin Connor
Published Feb 24, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read

A Department of Immigration report says some criminals are getting around a multi-million dollar security system intended to keep dangerous foreigners out of Canada.


Smugglers, human traffickers and others “found workarounds” of the electronic visa system, the report says.


“Those with malicious intent including associations with fraud, human trafficking and smuggling movements have found workarounds,” said a department report Evaluation Of The Electronic Travel Authorization Program.

“Moreover, surveyed officers generally felt the program contributes to a small or moderate extent to security-related outcomes.”

On Nov. 10, 2016, the department mandated that most foreign visitors, other than those from the United States, must first apply for an electronic visa.

“The program was to push out the Canadian border by identifying inadmissible foreign nationals before they fly to or through Canada. The Evaluation found while the program is preventing some inadmissible individuals from coming to Canada, its contribution to security objectives could be improved,” the report said.


From 2017 to 2019, a total 11,527,034 air travelers from Europe, Latin America, Asia and other locations applied for electronic visas.

“The most common countries of citizenship for clients were the United Kingdom (15%), France (14%), Mexico (9%) and Australia (6%),” wrote researchers.

Of the 11.5 million applicants a total 104,839 were rejected following background checks.

“The majority of electronic visa refusals at the border were based on a refused ground indication of serious criminality or misrepresentation,” said the report.

No reason was given for the high error rate.

Applicants must submit personal data including birth date, email address and other information for background security checks.

The program was first proposed in 2012 but was delayed because of technical problems resulting in cost overruns.

Originally budgeted at $35 million, actual costs ran to more than $77 million.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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'So what's your plan?' mayor asks federal government as tourist season looms.

It started last summer with 87, grew to 300, and most recently shot up to around 2,000 hotel rooms that were being utilized in Niagara Falls, Ont., to accommodate asylum seekers sent there from Quebec.

And with nearly 3,000 migrants in total having been transferred since July, community services of the city are feeling the pressure on their already stretched resources to meet the needs of this sudden influx of people.

"We're trying to be good Canadians and do what we always do, which is always lend a hand. But there's limits to everything that we can physically do," said Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati. As tensions have simmered in Quebec over the tens of thousands of asylum seekers that have crossed into Canada on foot at the unofficial Roxham Road crossing, some 5,500 migrants have been bused to border towns in Ontario, including Niagara Falls, Windsor and Cornwall.
"We have 40,000 people in Niagara Falls that count on tourism to feed their families, pay the rent, pay their mortgages," he said.

Although the government is paying the hotels to house the asylum seekers, tourists who would normally be paying for those rooms also eat at the restaurants and go to the attractions. "There's a much, much bigger multiplier. That's the difference. It's all the mom and pop operators, the T-shirt people, the people making fudge. Those are the people that aren't going to benefit because the asylum seekers don't spend money at these places," Diodati said.
1677424867775.jpeg
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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There could be any number of Roxham Roads if we let them happen .
I suspect there already is. Just they are not in Quebec or OntariOWE, so don't make the news. Zero Ave in Surrey comes to mind.
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 — like the United States is doing with Mexico — right now.

“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. News to the USA, but Trudeau said it so it MUST be true!!

“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 because…Quebec. Duh!”
apple.news

Closing Roxham Road won't stop irregular migrants coming to Canada: Trudeau — Global News

Trudeau said the only way to “effectively” close the Roxham Road crossing is to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States.
apple.news
apple.news

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on the federal government Tuesday to close the Roxham Road border crossing within 30 days. Poilievre told Trudeau to just do what Biden is doing to Lopez Obrador right now. “What’s good for the Goose is good for the Gander ya’ Fuck’n Muppet!” accusing him of encouraging irregular crossings at Roxham Road and of not addressing a backlog of refugee claims.
 
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pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
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I suspect there already is. Just they are not in Quebec or OntariOWE, so don't make the news. Zero Ave in Surrey comes to mind.
Yes but I do travel Zero Ave. on a regular basis and never see illegal crossing , there is always American border patrol visible . RCMP are close but not as visible . Also they have monitered cameras all along that stretch . Not saying it doesn’t happen just not in great numbers .
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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Regina, Saskatchewan
The irregular border crossing at Roxham Road along the Quebec-New York border has seen a surge in migrants in the last year, and Quebec Premier François Legault has been calling on the federal government to find a solution, while his province struggles to handle the massive increase in people crossing.

Legault’s plea caused a war of words between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre this week, when Poilievre waded into the debate, saying “if we are a real country, we have borders. And if this is a real prime minister, he is responsible for those borders.”

Trudeau later responded saying that “if Pierre Poilievre wants to build a wall (& Trudeau is the ONLY one talking about building a wall, arsehole that he is) at Roxham Road, someone could do that. The problem is we have 6,000 kilometres worth of undefended shared border with the United States, and… people will choose to cross elsewhere.”

John Manley — a former deputy prime minister who served under Jean Chretien and one of the signatories of the Safe Third Country Agreement in 2002 — told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, in an interview airing Sunday, “fundamental to the nation's sovereignty is the ability to control our borders.”

Manley said post-9/11, there was “quite a large inflow of refugee claimants” from all over the world passing through the U.S. and crossing into Canada to seek asylum. He said they were “very well organized.” The surge in numbers meant Canada couldn’t keep up, so in the time it took to process their applications, they would settle in Canada, and began to cause “quite a strain on social services.”

The agreement (STCA) applies only to official land border crossings, which means asylum seekers who manage to enter a country via an unofficial crossing — such as Roxham Road — are not returned.

Manley also said the loophole of irregular land border crossings was never a consideration at the time the agreement was signed.

“The federal government has some responsibility because of its control of the borders to do that,” he added. “We shouldn't be leaving cities and provinces stranded because of an uncontrolled flow of people coming in claiming to be refugees.”
 

Taxslave2

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Yes but I do travel Zero Ave. on a regular basis and never see illegal crossing , there is always American border patrol visible . RCMP are close but not as visible . Also they have monitered cameras all along that stretch . Not saying it doesn’t happen just not in great numbers .
Once upon a time there were tunnels for drug running. Could be the one the feds didn’t find got repurposed. If there is a buck to be made someone is looking at it.
 

Taxslave2

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Once upon a time there were tunnels for drug running. Could be the one the feds didn’t find got repurposed. If there is a buck to be made someone is looking at it.
Early thirties my father ran packhorses from Columbia Valley, above Chillwack to a mine in Washington. Can’t remember the name of it. They also had a trail to civilization on the US side, but getting supplies from Chilwack was either easier or cheaper. There will be lots of places where it is just a short walk from logging road to logging road.
 
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petros

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Nov 21, 2008
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Early thirties my father ran packhorses from Columbia Valley, above Chillwack to a mine in Washington. Can’t remember the name of it. They also had a trail to civilization on the US side, but getting supplies from Chilwack was either easier or cheaper. There will be lots of places where it is just a short walk from logging road to logging road.
That trail is still there.
 
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pgs

Hall of Fame Member
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Early thirties my father ran packhorses from Columbia Valley, above Chillwack to a mine in Washington. Can’t remember the name of it. They also had a trail to civilization on the US side, but getting supplies from Chilwack was either easier or cheaper. There will be lots of places where it is just a short walk from logging road to logging road.
Just a rusty barb wire fence above Osoyoss .
 

spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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UN seeks Canadian help for 'enormous' needs as refugee numbers double
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Dylan Robertson
Published Mar 04, 2023 • 4 minute read

The United Nations is bracing for a further increase in the number of refugees this year, as last month’s earthquake in Turkey and Syria adds to a series of crises that has the world looking to Canada for more help.

“The need around the world is enormous,” said Kelly Clements, the UN’s deputy high commissioner for refugees, on a visit to Canada this week.


“It’s the beginning of what we anticipate will be another very difficult year.”

Clements was touring the Middle East last month when the massive earthquake struck, and she headed for the large Syrian city of Aleppo in the immediate aftermath.

She said the shaking woke up UNHCR staff in the early hours of Feb. 6, and they ran into the streets in their bedclothes, standing in the damp snow.

“Despite some of our colleagues losing their houses, having damaged property, worried about loved ones and so on, everybody was back at the office that day,” she said.

“You can see apartment buildings where you could slice a knife through and see household effects, people’s clothes, mirrors on the wall, dressers, etc.”

The Syrian civil war has been underway since 2011 and Clements said parts of Aleppo have sat in ruins for half that time as the “frozen conflict” restored relative peace to that part of the country.

Many parts of Syria are held by warring groups, making the country’s response much slower than Turkey’s instant mobilization of government support. It took the Syrian government a week to loosen up its policy of heavily restricting border crossings, which further delayed the arrival of humanitarian aid.

Still, the UNHCR was able to pull from programs across the Middle East and is now focused on setting up housing. Clements said the agency needs funding to arrange programming for orphans and separated children, as well as for protecting women from gender-based violence.


“Our biggest concern is that when the spotlight is no longer on the earthquake response, even though the tremors may be gone, the needs will still be there,” Clements said.

“These are people that are going to need long-term support from the international community in order to rebuild their lives. It’s not just about rebuilding structures.”

Syria had 21 million citizens when its civil war started 12 years ago. Now, 6.8 million Syrians are internally displaced and 5 million are refugees in other countries.

“Some of our most underfunded programs in the world were part of the Syria situation,” Clements said.

“It has been easy for eyes of the world to move to other contexts that were more topical, more recent, more understandable — but there is no less need in a serious situation.”

Across the border in Lebanon, 1.5 million Syrians are languishing in a country where one-fifth of residents are refugees from other states, the highest proportion on the planet.

Clements, a former American diplomat in Beirut, recalled packing her own medicines on a recent visit, because of the lack of available supply in the country.

Lebanon was years into political deadlock when a large part of its main port exploded in 2020. Inflation has rendered poor nearly all refugees in the country, as well as many Lebanese citizens, Clements said.

“It’s crisis upon crisis in Lebanon, some of its own making in terms of governance,” she said.

She noted that Lebanese people are increasingly shifting from hosting refugees from neighbouring states to fleeing their own country on rickety boats, with the number of deaths at sea rising threefold from 2021 to 2022.

“It tells you the kind of desperation that people have gone to,” she said.

Meanwhile, another frozen conflict in Yemen has produced a humanitarian disaster, as a global appeal for aid reached only a third of its goal this week.

The UN sought US$4.3 billion to restore adequate food, water and health services, but only received US$1.2 billion at a Monday pledging conference.

The country is beset by a violent civil war, an economic blockade and increasingly severe natural disasters. Save the Children argued the funding shortfall “will have a negative impact on the lives of millions of children in Yemen and on the long-term stability of the country.”

On Monday, International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan announced $46 million for this year’s Yemen appeal, which has Canada following a global trend of declining funding over the past three years.

“It’s fallen largely off the radar of the international community, and still hugely in need of humanitarian support,” Clements said.

Her agency recorded 65 million displaced people around the globe in 2015, a number that has ballooned past 100 million and by “a conservative estimate” will reach 120 million by the end of 2023, nearly a doubling in eight years.

She commended Canada for being one of the top funders of the UNHCR and for resettling some of the world’s most vulnerable refugees whose needs can’t be met in many developing countries.

But she also is hoping Ottawa increases funding for these needs in the next federal budget.

“We need Canada to be with us even more in 2023 than they were in 2022.”

She argues UNHCR programming has restored dignity to people across the globe by resolving their immediate needs and empowering them to take up employment.

Closer to home, an uptick in asylum seekers entering Canada at Roxham Road has Quebec urging Ottawa to somehow close the unofficial border crossing.

Already, the federal government is busing hundreds of asylum claimants to Ontario and Quebec media have highlighted the lack of safe housing in Montreal for newcomers.

While Clements doesn’t follow Canadian politics, she said she’s confident the country will remain open to helping people in need.

“Canada has traditionally been an incredibly generous country with people, welcoming with open arms refugees, asylum seekers and others,” she said.

“I’m very confident that Canada can find ways to be able to continue to welcome those that need its international protection.”
 

pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
26,543
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B.C.
UN seeks Canadian help for 'enormous' needs as refugee numbers double
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Dylan Robertson
Published Mar 04, 2023 • 4 minute read

The United Nations is bracing for a further increase in the number of refugees this year, as last month’s earthquake in Turkey and Syria adds to a series of crises that has the world looking to Canada for more help.

“The need around the world is enormous,” said Kelly Clements, the UN’s deputy high commissioner for refugees, on a visit to Canada this week.


“It’s the beginning of what we anticipate will be another very difficult year.”

Clements was touring the Middle East last month when the massive earthquake struck, and she headed for the large Syrian city of Aleppo in the immediate aftermath.

She said the shaking woke up UNHCR staff in the early hours of Feb. 6, and they ran into the streets in their bedclothes, standing in the damp snow.

“Despite some of our colleagues losing their houses, having damaged property, worried about loved ones and so on, everybody was back at the office that day,” she said.

“You can see apartment buildings where you could slice a knife through and see household effects, people’s clothes, mirrors on the wall, dressers, etc.”

The Syrian civil war has been underway since 2011 and Clements said parts of Aleppo have sat in ruins for half that time as the “frozen conflict” restored relative peace to that part of the country.

Many parts of Syria are held by warring groups, making the country’s response much slower than Turkey’s instant mobilization of government support. It took the Syrian government a week to loosen up its policy of heavily restricting border crossings, which further delayed the arrival of humanitarian aid.

Still, the UNHCR was able to pull from programs across the Middle East and is now focused on setting up housing. Clements said the agency needs funding to arrange programming for orphans and separated children, as well as for protecting women from gender-based violence.


“Our biggest concern is that when the spotlight is no longer on the earthquake response, even though the tremors may be gone, the needs will still be there,” Clements said.

“These are people that are going to need long-term support from the international community in order to rebuild their lives. It’s not just about rebuilding structures.”

Syria had 21 million citizens when its civil war started 12 years ago. Now, 6.8 million Syrians are internally displaced and 5 million are refugees in other countries.

“Some of our most underfunded programs in the world were part of the Syria situation,” Clements said.

“It has been easy for eyes of the world to move to other contexts that were more topical, more recent, more understandable — but there is no less need in a serious situation.”

Across the border in Lebanon, 1.5 million Syrians are languishing in a country where one-fifth of residents are refugees from other states, the highest proportion on the planet.

Clements, a former American diplomat in Beirut, recalled packing her own medicines on a recent visit, because of the lack of available supply in the country.

Lebanon was years into political deadlock when a large part of its main port exploded in 2020. Inflation has rendered poor nearly all refugees in the country, as well as many Lebanese citizens, Clements said.

“It’s crisis upon crisis in Lebanon, some of its own making in terms of governance,” she said.

She noted that Lebanese people are increasingly shifting from hosting refugees from neighbouring states to fleeing their own country on rickety boats, with the number of deaths at sea rising threefold from 2021 to 2022.

“It tells you the kind of desperation that people have gone to,” she said.

Meanwhile, another frozen conflict in Yemen has produced a humanitarian disaster, as a global appeal for aid reached only a third of its goal this week.

The UN sought US$4.3 billion to restore adequate food, water and health services, but only received US$1.2 billion at a Monday pledging conference.

The country is beset by a violent civil war, an economic blockade and increasingly severe natural disasters. Save the Children argued the funding shortfall “will have a negative impact on the lives of millions of children in Yemen and on the long-term stability of the country.”

On Monday, International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan announced $46 million for this year’s Yemen appeal, which has Canada following a global trend of declining funding over the past three years.

“It’s fallen largely off the radar of the international community, and still hugely in need of humanitarian support,” Clements said.

Her agency recorded 65 million displaced people around the globe in 2015, a number that has ballooned past 100 million and by “a conservative estimate” will reach 120 million by the end of 2023, nearly a doubling in eight years.

She commended Canada for being one of the top funders of the UNHCR and for resettling some of the world’s most vulnerable refugees whose needs can’t be met in many developing countries.

But she also is hoping Ottawa increases funding for these needs in the next federal budget.

“We need Canada to be with us even more in 2023 than they were in 2022.”

She argues UNHCR programming has restored dignity to people across the globe by resolving their immediate needs and empowering them to take up employment.

Closer to home, an uptick in asylum seekers entering Canada at Roxham Road has Quebec urging Ottawa to somehow close the unofficial border crossing.

Already, the federal government is busing hundreds of asylum claimants to Ontario and Quebec media have highlighted the lack of safe housing in Montreal for newcomers.

While Clements doesn’t follow Canadian politics, she said she’s confident the country will remain open to helping people in need.

“Canada has traditionally been an incredibly generous country with people, welcoming with open arms refugees, asylum seekers and others,” she said.

“I’m very confident that Canada can find ways to be able to continue to welcome those that need its international protection.”
Lots of room up Baffin Island way .