The Quebec governme has asked the federal governme to create a nationwide system for quotas and uniform distribution of asylum seekers across the coury. According to the Quebec authorities, this system provides the opportunity to properly welcome refugees and will help the economic developme of all regions.
In a July 22 letter to federal Immigration Minister Mark Miller, Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Frecht suggested that the federal governme set quotas for the provinces. These quotas should be allocated based on the weight of the population, the capacity of the provinces to settle newcomers and their historical efforts. In this letter, language skills and the existence of ethnic groups of refugees in certain provinces are also meioned as factors in the distribution of refugees.
Fersht believes that the creation of such a system can reduce the pressure on the provinces of Quebec and Oario and preve excessive conceration of immigras in cities such as Moreal and Toroo. He suggested that if a refugee settles in an area other than the area designated by the federal governme, that refugee should bear all the costs of his stay after arrival.
Another request raised in this letter is the tightening of visa conditions. According to statistics, of the approximately 17,500 asylum applications registered in the province from January 1 to March 31, almost half of them eered Canada on visitor visas.
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Quebec’s immigration minister has also asked the federal governme to limit work permits by province. This restriction will remain in place uil the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada makes a decision on the asylum application.
Following this, Minister Angel met with Minister Miller in a meeting attended by the immigration ministers of Oario, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia. At the Federation Council in July in Halifax, Canada’s various provinces asked the federal governme to distribute asylum seekers fairly, taking io accou the resources of each province and territory.
Francois Lugo, the Prime Minister of Quebec, has repeatedly described the influx of refugees io the province of Quebec as a national emergency and has emphasized that the province no longer has an effective means of iegrating non-permane resides. He also considered the increase of non-permane immigras as the main cause of housing problems in the province.
Issa Diop, Secretary Miller’s director of communications, explained that the federal governme is examining refugee redistribution models and considering inceives and disinceives to encourage implemeation of these models. He added that the federal governme will not send a message to the provinces and territories uil it is able to best iegrate all the demands of the provinces io an overall proposal. No further details have been provided.
The director of communications for the Departme of Immigration also noted that the federal governme recognizes that the provinces of Quebec and Oario have borne the bru of the increase in asylum seekers.
