Amount of Asylum Seekers Entering Canada is on the Rise

When you are born and raised in Canada, you realize that your country may not be perfect, but it definitely has some wonderful elements: cultural diversity, universal health care, democracy, positive patriotism and an overall politeness that the rudimentary collective of bad seeds can’t overthrow. Perhaps, most importantly, we are sympathetic, understanding and welcoming to those who do not feel safe in their home countries and want a fresh start.

Of course, immigration is a very complicated matter, with lots of checks and balances needed to ensure that Canada is doing its best to take in those who will not have a negative impact on the country. For instance, just look back at when Canada chose to take in thousands upon thousands of Syrian refugees.

With the controversial political climate in the U.S. in full motion, as well as the country’s rise of anti-immigrant sentiment and white supremacist activity, minorities are fleeing to Canada.

According to a report by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, July saw the RCMP intercept nearly 3,000 people hopping the Canadian-U.S. border into Quebec. This figure represents a 284% increase compared to June and an incredible 1,000% upswing since January.

In separate findings, Quebec’s immigration department said 6,580 entered Canada through the province and made asylum claims during the first six months of 2017. For the entirety of 2016, only 5,505 similar cases occurred.

To deal with this influx, notes Global News, the federal government constructed a border camp near the Quebec-New York State border.

“The number of ‘RCMP interceptions’ refers to asylum seekers apprehended between the ports of entry and does not reflect other illegal border crossings,” reads the report. “These numbers may be included in either CBSA (Canada Border Services Agency) or IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) processing results as the asylum seekers are turned over by the RCMP to these agencies if a claim of refugee status is made.”

Elsewhere, 88 interceptions occurred this past July in Manitoba, up from 63 in June. In British Columbia, 51 asylum seekers were caught at the border in July, versus 39 in June.

Across Canada last month, the RCMP confirmed 3,135 asylum seekers attempted entry into Canada at locations where there isn’t an official border station. By comparison, 884 people did the same in June.

On a recent episode of theZoomer, a panel of community leaders gathered to celebrate Canada’s sesquicentennial and to reflect on the country’s history. You can watch that episode below.

-Adam Grant