Check It Out: Are the provinces responsible for Quebec’s asylum seekers?

By Joan Janzen

A grandma was writing in her journal at the kitchen table while her ten-year-old grandson sat beside her, eating his cereal. He carefully watched his grandma for several minutes as she wrote in cursive, and then said “You should learn how to print. Nobody’s ever going to be able to read that.”

However Canadians can easily read government documents that reveal the benefits received by foreigners who have claimed asylum in Canada but have not yet had their applications reviewed by immigration authorities. These individuals are often referred to as either illegal immigrants or irregular asylum seekers.

According to a Government of Canada document, the average daily accommodation cost per asylum seeker is $140/night plus $84/day for food, which comes to a grand total of $6,720/month. That is more than most Canadians earn in a month. However, the amount doesn’t include any additional essential items, such as medication, which they also receive.

Asylum seekers receive more benefits than Canada’s seniors, who have paid taxes their entire lives. But yet another document reveals more benefits to which asylum seekers are entitled.

The Canada Child Benefit document claims $7,787/year for each child under the age of 6, and $6,570/year for children 6-17 is available to parents who are temporary residents without a Social Insurance Number.

After digesting that information, Canadians may have read a recent National Post Headline: “Ottawa looks to relocate thousands of asylum seekers to provinces from Quebec.” Commentator David Krayden observed these are people who walked across the border and claimed to be refugees.

Now, Immigration Minister Mark Miller wants to relieve pressure on Quebec and Ontario, which have received this influx of asylum seekers. His plans for relocation in the west include 21,125 asylum seekers to BC, 18,113 to Alberta, and over 7,000 to Saskatchewan.

In a recent opinion piece, Western Standard journalist Shane Wenzel suggested immigration be reduced back to normal levels or put on hold for two years. He stated the obvious: Canada’s housing, schools, medical services and social programs have more than they can manage. And he asked a relevant question: “Why aren’t transferable skills a priority when considering applications for new Canadians?”

The premiers of Alberta and New Brunswick have  issued statements saying they are not open to having additional asylum seekers settle in their province. They are already grappling to provide housing for their existing populations.

This is evident by the increasing number of tent encampments popping up in major cities in the provinces. An example of a homeless encampment was recorded by You Tuber KSquared. He walked the streets of East Hastings in Vancouver and said, “I’m talking thousands of people are in this one little radius.” He said the people weren’t there because of real estate or rent prices, but because of drugs.

The situation is serious enough that a nearby Tim Hortons removed all the furniture because people were coming inside and getting high. The YouTuber said, “Hundreds of millions get spent, but it still doesn’t get fixed. What’s the plan to get these people off the streets?”

Regardless of what caused this homeless district, the fact remains they all require shelter. According to the YouTuber, there are currently over 1400 encampments in Canada right now. CBC recently reported Canada as a whole has between 260,000 and 300,000 people experiencing homelessness in a year, as recorded by Alliance to End Homelessness estimates.

Let’s add to all these observations the expanding need for food banks and food distribution centres throughout Canada, before we once again consider the Minister of Immigration’s proposal.

In recent news broadcasts, Marc Miller was heard saying, “Right now, we could open up a hotel in any particular province and ship people there; that’s an option. It’s not a financially viable model, not an effective model. We need coordination with other provinces.”

While making an assurance that these measures wouldn’t be imposed upon the provinces without their consent, he also said the following: “There’s only so far the federal government can actually be nice and say please, please. We also have levers we need to pull and push. And provinces do get the benefit from immigration.”

Should the Minister be asked to list the benefits of receiving asylum seekers in individual provinces? Should he also be asked to list the drawbacks of receiving asylum seekers, after which each province could judge if the negative outcomes exceed the positive?

“So it’s something we need to deal with in a responsible fashion, so we expect every single province to be responsible,” Marc Miller concluded.

But what is the most responsible approach? David Krayden from the “Stand on Guard” podcast summed up the situation by saying, “It’s not the province’s fault for saying no; it’s the Minister’s fault for saying yes to an open door policy. Stop the mass immigration problem.”

The complication of this issue continues, as Steven LeDrew reported on The LeDrew Three Minute podcast that government has decided to bring in 5,000 people from Gaza. He observed most people know that people from Gaza are brought up from childhood to not only hate Jews, but to encourage the killing of Jews.

At the end of the day, Canadians are still positive about immigration; they just want a system that makes common sense.