It鈥檚 not just rural Manitoba that has experienced a surge in asylum seekers illegally crossing the border from United States. In fact, an RCMP official says Quebec has experienced the biggest influx.
RCMP Cpl. Camille Habel said Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia have all experienced an increase in recent months, 鈥渂ut the largest increase has been seen in Quebec.鈥�
The number of refugee claimants in Quebec hit 593 in December and there were 452 in January, up from 74 in Dec. 2014, according to the Canadian Border Services Agency.
In Manitoba, 403 were recorded in 2016, up from 252 in 2015. At least 82 more have crossed into the province since Jan.1, including 21 overnight on Friday, according to RCMP.
One common entry point is near Hemmingford, Que., where RCMP are stationed around the clock warning people that it is illegal to cross and detaining those who do.
Police typically run criminal background checks on those detained and then release them for an interview with CBSA. The asylum seekers can receive legal aid and social assistance while making a refugee claim.
Pierre Sigoin, who has lived near the Quebec-U.S. border for nearly 15 years, says he鈥檚 never seen anything like it. There is family after family emerging from the woods dragging luggage, he said.
Townsman Francois Dore said 鈥渇amilies are coming in 鈥� moms, dads, kids, babies in strollers.鈥�
Local resident Jonathan Jones says the community doesn鈥檛 know 鈥渨hether we should be afraid or whether we should be generous of spirit because obviously they're running away from things and you don鈥檛 want to be unkind.鈥�
Janet Dench, from the Canadian Council for Refugees, said that many of those illegally crossing are doing so because 鈥渇or some refugees, the U.S. is not a safe country and the situation has gotten much more dangerous and uncertain since the Trump administration.鈥�
Many of the refugee claimants are from Somalia, which was one of seven Muslim-majority nations whose citizens were briefly banned from entering the U.S. due to Trump鈥檚 Jan. 27 executive order. The ban was later suspended by a court and appeals court upheld the suspension on Thursday.
Although refugees who arrive at regulated border crossings from the U.S. are turned back due to a Canada-U.S. agreement, immigration lawyers say those who sneak across unregulated crossings can expect to have their cases heard in Canada.
Bashir Khan, a Winnipeg immigration lawyer, told 麻豆影视 Channel on Thursday that asylum seekers have good reasons to try and cross.
鈥淚n my experience,鈥� Khan said, 鈥�80 to 90 per cent of the people who are denied asylum in the United States do end up winning their refugee claim before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.鈥�
With a report from CTV鈥檚 Genevieve Beauchemain and CTV Montreal鈥檚 Aalia Adams
