Justin Trudeau
A Surge of Migrants Crossing Into Quebec Tests Canada’s Welcome
Photo
Last week, the Canadian authorities opened a temporary housing center for migrants with 1,050 beds
in Olympic Stadium in Montreal. CreditIan Willms for The New York Times
MONTREAL — The crowd of asylum seekers who gathered the other day outside this city’s Olympic Stadium, their temporary home, hailed from across the globe. They had fled violence, poverty, persecution and, some say, President Trump, often with only a suitcase to their name and a wisp of hope that Canada will allow them to stay.
They are part of a new surge of mostly Haitian migrants who have illegally crossed into Quebec by the hundreds every day over the past several weeks, walking over a ditch at the end of a dead-end road in upstate New York. They are seeking to benefit from a loophole in a treaty between the two countries that allows them to make refugee claims in Canada if they do not arrive at legal ports of entry.
“I lost everything in Haiti, but now I’m afraid the U.S. will send me back,” said Jonathan Luima, 44, a Haitian migrant who arrived in the United States last year. “Canada is my only hope.”
This recent influx of asylum seekers poses a political and diplomatic test for the government of Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, as it seeks to balance its publicly compassionate statements toward refugees with a strict immigration system.
Continue reading the main story
A Surge of Migrants Crossing Into Quebec Tests Canada’s Welcome
Photo
Last week, the Canadian authorities opened a temporary housing center for migrants with 1,050 beds
in Olympic Stadium in Montreal. CreditIan Willms for The New York Times
MONTREAL — The crowd of asylum seekers who gathered the other day outside this city’s Olympic Stadium, their temporary home, hailed from across the globe. They had fled violence, poverty, persecution and, some say, President Trump, often with only a suitcase to their name and a wisp of hope that Canada will allow them to stay.
They are part of a new surge of mostly Haitian migrants who have illegally crossed into Quebec by the hundreds every day over the past several weeks, walking over a ditch at the end of a dead-end road in upstate New York. They are seeking to benefit from a loophole in a treaty between the two countries that allows them to make refugee claims in Canada if they do not arrive at legal ports of entry.
“I lost everything in Haiti, but now I’m afraid the U.S. will send me back,” said Jonathan Luima, 44, a Haitian migrant who arrived in the United States last year. “Canada is my only hope.”
This recent influx of asylum seekers poses a political and diplomatic test for the government of Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, as it seeks to balance its publicly compassionate statements toward refugees with a strict immigration system.
Continue reading the main story
