Quebec: make the quota of asylum seekers fair

The Quebec government has asked the federal government to create a nationwide system for quotas and uniform distribution of asylum seekers across the country. According to the Quebec authorities, this system provides the opportunity to properly welcome refugees and will help the economic development of all regions.

In a July 22 letter to federal Immigration Minister Mark Miller, Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Frecht suggested that the federal government 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 mentioned 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 Ontario and prevent excessive concentration of immigrants in cities such as Montreal and Toronto. He suggested that if a refugee settles in an area other than the area designated by the federal government, 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 entered Canada on visitor visas.

Quebec’s immigration minister has also asked the federal government to limit work permits by province. This restriction will remain in place until 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 Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia. At the Federation Council in July in Halifax, Canada’s various provinces asked the federal government to distribute asylum seekers fairly, taking into account the resources of each province and territory.

Francois Lugo, the Prime Minister of Quebec, has repeatedly described the influx of refugees into the province of Quebec as a national emergency and has emphasized that the province no longer has an effective means of integrating non-permanent residents. He also considered the increase of non-permanent immigrants as the main cause of housing problems in the province.

Issa Diop, Secretary Miller’s director of communications, explained that the federal government is examining refugee redistribution models and considering incentives and disincentives to encourage implementation of these models. He added that the federal government will not send a message to the provinces and territories until it is able to best integrate all the demands of the provinces into an overall proposal. No further details have been provided.

The director of communications for the Department of Immigration also noted that the federal government recognizes that the provinces of Quebec and Ontario have borne the brunt of the increase in asylum seekers.