Home expensive of refugees

Guillaume St-Pierre and
Matthew Payen

Thursday, August 3, 2017 23:13

UPDATE
Thursday, August 3, 2017 23:13

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The massive influx of refugees will be costly to Ottawa and Quebec city, which will pay out among other $ 1.5 million for only seven weeks in temporary accommodation at the olympic Stadium.

“Obviously there is a cost, because we can’t drop these to people fleeing crises, or situations where their life is threatened,” said liberal mp, federal montreal’s Marc Miller.

The latter argues that the reception of asylum seekers was a ” burden that the provinces must assume “.

Since the us president, Donald Trump has announced that it wants to remove the temporary protected status granted to Haitians following the earthquake of 2010, hundreds of migrants flee the United States, and it is Quebec who is first in line.

Thus, the bill of$ 1.5 Million for the installation of 600 beds at the olympic Stadium planned until September 19, will be paid by the province, has specified Lucie Charlebois, the minister responsible for public Health, responsible for the accommodation of refugees in Montreal.

“But if the accommodation expenses increase too much, we can discuss with Ottawa,” said Ms. Charlebois.

Social assistance

Moreover, the obtaining by the refugee of the assistance of last resort, commonly called welfare, has been facilitated, said quebec’s minister of Immigration, Kathleen Weil.

“Once they get it, they can find housing and leave the place [in temporary accommodation] to the following,” says the minister.

The ministry of Labour, which handles applications for social assistance, told us that there were 1754 cases filed by asylum-seekers in July. It is nearly nine times more (201) as last year the same month. Additional staff had to be deployed to the Department. On the other hand, the overall amount of these new payments will not be known before two months.

Work

For the lawyer, Stéphane Handfield, immigration specialist, it is up to Ottawa to bring down the bill in Quebec by facilitating the granting of work permits.

“It is a matter of common sense,” he said. If these people are working, they no longer need social assistance, and even better, they pay taxes. “

The president of the Union of customs, Jean-Pierre Fortin, abounds in this sense, recalling that, for the moment, as long as the asylum application of a migrant is not in treatment, it can not obtain a work permit.

“Before, our services can accommodate the requests at the border, but with the influx of the past few months, we lack the means. “

Mr. Fortin also wondered about the large number of overtime hours made by the agents and police at the border. According to him, some have even worked 15 or 20 hours straight.

“If the government had better planning, we could certainly reduce costs,” said Mr. Fortin.