The Trudeau government has reached a long-discussed deal with the United States on irregular migration which will allow Ottawa to close the Roxham Road irregular crossing at the Canada-U.S. border, sources told CBC News.
The deal would see Canada announce openings for 15,000 migrants from the Western Hemisphere to apply to enter the country legally, a senior source with knowledge of the agreement told CBC News. Radio-Canada was first to report the deal. The Los Angeles Times was the first to report the number of migrants.
The deal comes in the form of a change to how the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States is applied. It would close a loophole in the agreement, which came into force in 2004 and currently prevents Canadian law enforcement from turning back asylum seekers who enter Canada from the United States at border locations that are not official ports of entry.
The change would apply across the entire Canada-United States border and would allow both countries to turn back asylum seekers at unofficial border crossings.
The source said the agreement is expected to be announced publicly Friday.
Progress on a new border agreement between the two countries accelerated in the run-up to U.S. President Joe Biden’s first official visit to Canada, the source added. Biden arrives in Ottawa Thursday and departs late on Friday.
The official said they would not have predicted the deal a few weeks ago.
“I would’ve said, ‘No way,'” they said.
Several officials involved in the discussions had said talks had been lagging for months. The United States previously had not deemed a border deal with Canada a priority as it managed a migration surge on its southern border.
The deal could take effect quickly after its announcement because changes to the agreement do not have to go through the United States Congress, and could instead come through an executive order.
The status of the agreement became a lingering source of tension between Ottawa and Washington because of an influx of asylum seekers entering Canada through Roxham Road, which is on the Quebec-New York border about 50 km south of Montreal.
The Safe Third Country Agreement prevents people from claiming asylum in Canada if they enter Canada from the U.S. at an official land border crossing. The idea is that asylum seekers should make their claims in the first safe country they can reach.
Asylum seekers have been able to have their appeals heard in Canada if they’ve entered at an unofficial crossing, such as Roxham.
“I think it’s good news. I know you’d like to know more. You will be knowing more quite soon from my colleagues and the prime minister,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told reporters Thursday.
Opposition parties and the Quebec government have pressured the Trudeau government on Roxham Road. Both Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Quebec Premier François Legault have called for the irregular border crossing’s closure following a spike in asylum seekers this year. Legault said the number of asylum seekers has put a strain on his province’s social services.
Nearly two-thirds of asylum claims in Canada in 2022 were made in Quebec, according to government data. Almost 40,000 asylum seekers crossed the border from Roxham Road that year. The migrants were primarily from Haiti, Turkey, Colombia, Chile, Pakistan and Venezuela.
Trudeau said last month that the only way to shut down Roxham is to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement. But United States Ambassador David Cohen said that would do little to address irregular migration.
Sources told Radio-Canada that Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser have worked behind the scenes with their American counterparts in recent weeks to reach a deal.
New York City has paid for bus tickets to send asylum seekers through to Plattsburgh, New York, which is close to Roxham Road.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he’d still like to see that happen. He said he doesn’t know the details of the Roxham deal.
“If the solution solves the problem, it’s something we’re open to,” he said. “Our preferred option is still to suspend the agreement, but we’re open to other solutions.”
New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh speaks with reporters during a news conference Thursday, February 16, 2023 in Ottawa. Singh said Thursday he’d prefer if the government suspended the Safe Third Country Agreement, but is open to other options on the border. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
It’s against the law to enter Canada anywhere other than an official port of entry, but it is not illegal to make an asylum claim. Migrants claiming asylum after entering Canada illegally are generally not prosecuted while their claims are assessed.
Marie Saintil, an Ontario-based lawyer who works with Roxham Road migrants, said news of the deal doesn’t surprise her.
“It will make a difference. It will immediately reduce the flow,” she said.
“I worry it could result in more human traffickers.”
Saintil said migrants are often fleeing political persecution and gang and domestic violence.
“They will do what they need to do to survive. For them and their family,” Saintil said.
“I find it very troubling that this has been politicized, instead of trying to focus on helping these people in whatever way we can.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
