Keep calm and plan on, federal ministers told on asylum seeker influx
Posted March 7, 2017 2:23 pm.
Last Updated March 7, 2017 4:19 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet are taking a wait-and-see approach to the hundreds of people crossing illegally into Canada from the US to seek asylum.
The opposition has been pressuring the government to either beef-up security at the border, or alter Canada’s safe 3rd party agreement with the United States in the face of the influx.
But after meeting with the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency in Ottawa, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says both agencies have all the resources they need right now, and that no requests have been made for additional funding.
He adds though that contingency plans are being drawn up.
“The numbers may go up, the numbers may go down, but as the cirumstances evolve, we want to make sure that we’ve thought it through in advance and we have ourselves in a position to deal with it,” Goodale says.
One of the issues, for example, might be whether the risk of spring flooding in Manitoba impacts the safety of people entering that province in the coming months.
Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen says he doesn’t think the new executive order from President Donald Trump barring immigration from six Muslim-majority nations will have any bearing or impact on the domestic asylum system.
Goodale says he plans to impress upon his American counterparts later this week the impact the flow of asylum seekers is having on Canada.
