Quote:
Originally Posted by JM5
Guys, I agree that Canada as a country can stand to take in more refugees but I also see cornholio's point about many of these claimants possibly being economic migrants. I really don't know the stats on who they are, nor am I qualified to judge what constitutes a valid claim.
I do know however, that current system of illegal entry leaves our hands tied. People are already on Canadian soil so unless we flat out deny entry to all claimants based on the fact that they broke the law, we have no choice than to grant ALL of them a hearing.
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We have to remember that international law allows people to cross 'illegally' into other countries for the purpose of asking for asylum. That's why we say "irregular border crossings" for refugees and "illegal border crossings" for someone crossing for any other reason.
The reason that refugees are arrested on crossing the border is because they have not yet filed a refugee claim. Once they have done that, no charges can be pressed.
As for fears regarding crime, all people seeking asylum undergo rigourous security checks, including - I'm certain Dr. Leitch would approve - extensive face-to-face interviews. There are also health checks, biometric scans and registration, and identity checks. They don't just sign the welcome book then go on their way.
Even before Trump, our border officials and the RCMP had been dealing with this regularly - an average of over 4000 times every year.
They are more than capable of handling this year's increased numbers.
Where there are problems is after all these checks - temporary housing, basic services, legal assistance and, perhaps most of all, timely refugee hearings are in short supply. There is a backlog of
thousands of cases spanning years, left over from the 50% reduction in IRB judges back in 2013. If it was urgent for us to reduce that before, it will be even more urgent now to make sure that people are not left in limbo, unable to fully support themselves while waiting for a decision.