Canada: Quebec warns of 'humanitarian crisis' amid surge in asylum requests

This shelter for asylum seekers hasn’t seen much downtime since it opened in Montreal in May 2017. Like a regular contract, this indicates who the renter is and who the owner is. It houses up to 13 families as they await social assistance and legal advice as their case is processed by Canadian immigration. Do you receive social assistance? Normally with a child you receive around 1100, correct? Yes, I receive 1100, but in recent weeks the levels have increased. The hostels waiting list has never been so long. It varies between 60 to 80 families, but now 80 families are on the waiting list. The hostels director says The reason is the new safe Third country agreements between Mexico, the US and Canada to avoid having to apply for asylum in Mexico, where many have already passed through migrants, often crossing the border on foot or by plane as tourists hide for at least 15 days on Canadian soil. They then become eligible for asylum in Canada. But by then, the 10 day deadline for registering for emergency government housing has already passed. There are a lot of people will be picking up after several weeks, even months, who’ve moved from one couch to another or even one St. to another, because lots of them are without a fixed home. It’s not just the housing crisis causing this. It’s obvious that there are flaws in our system that haven’t adapted to new regulations. Social workers have railed against the chaotic reception system exacerbated by the provinces housing crisis. As a result, thousands of asylum seekers are homeless or poorly housed to the point where the provincial government claims to be on the verge of a humanitarian crisis. Yeah, if this continues, we could end up not being able to accommodate these people. So this is one of our crucial issues that underscores why asylum seekers need to be distributed throughout Canada as a whole, not just Quebec and Ontario. As it battles with Ottawa over immigration powers, Quebec says it will be solely responsible for receiving 65 of the 144,000 applicants who arrived last year, since if they don’t want to deal with immigration, why prevent Quebec from doing so? The federal government disputes this, but says it will support the province financially. There’s no country in the world, nor federal state, that would give all immigration powers to a Federated state. Nevertheless, with Quebec we have a very important agreement, the Canada Quebec Agreement, which gives a lot of powers to Quebec. We will continue the great relationship with Quebec and continue to work, especially for people who are here. Temporarily, Quebec is asking Ottawa for a billion dollars to compensate for expenses related to asylum seekers as they account for nearly 1/3 of the social assistance given out in the province. That figure according to authorities who want to ban the children of asylum seekers from subsidised public daycare. I’ll This one is five years old now and the little one is 19 months. While waiting for her asylum application to be processed in several months time, this young Haitian mother has obtained work permit and found a job she fears she’ll lose if her children aren’t taken care of. I found a job at daycare, but if we have children, we’re not allowed to have subsidised daycare. We can’t afford private daycare. We have no choice but to stay on social welfare and stay at home with the children feel discriminated against Following a court’s decision that the Quebec government is still hoping to have overturned, Aliantia’s daughter can, for the time being, access a subsidised daycare centre. I’m currently finalising grading your scores For this law professor who specialises in international migration, the Quebec government is exaggerating the risks involved in welcoming asylum seekers, most of whom are active, seeking employment. We’re in quite a unique international context. We’ve seen the arrival of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who’ve settled in Canada and all over the world. We’ve seen it with the Syrian crisis, with the Afghan crisis. But what is certain is that asylum seekers are arriving in Canada. And if these people don’t have their work permits, if they don’t have access to housing and all that, it ends up creating a sort of instability and a sort of crisis, more of services than a humanitarian crisis. In 2023, seven out of 10 cases were accepted by the Immigration and Refugee Board, according to a Leisure Institute poll last February. The majority of Quebecers are relying on immigration to combat an ageing population and a shortage of workers. But 61% of them feel that Canada welcomes too many immigrants. Guaya Kill January 9th, 2024. Gunmen storm ATV studio and take hostages during a live broadcast. The Can the government win the war against gang violence? What is really going on in Ecuador? 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