The school boards are organized

Photo Le Journal de Montreal | Chantal Poirier
This small asylum seeker who was in the camp near Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle yesterday after having passed by the way Roxham will probably be part of the children who will be attending school this fall after being installed in the Montreal region.

Marie-Eve Dumont

Tuesday, 22 August, 2017 06:30

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Tuesday, 22 August, 2017 06:30

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The school board of the Montréal region are organizing themselves to accommodate between 800 and 1,000 children of asylum seekers from the United States who are expected to enter school in the middle of the fall.

“This is not all the world [among migrants] that will be ready for the 28th August. So we can open groups welcome all year long. One could have more applications in late September or early October, ” believes the president of the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM) Catherine Harel-Bourdon, which has received up to now a score of applications for enrolment of migrant children in the United States.

Asylum seekers remain about 50 days in accommodation centres before being able to find a place to live. To attend public school, they must have in hand the paper which demonstrates that they have made their application for asylum and an address where you can stay.

Targeted sectors

The CSDM is intervened with organizations that support migrants to their advisor, to focus on specific neighborhoods in the search for housing.

“We have targeted 10 schools, in Saint-Michel, where there has been an expansion, Hochelaga, or in the South-West. It has provided the zip codes that correspond to these schools to the organizations, ” said Ms. Harel-Bourdon.

Stakeholders are also in the hosting centers to provide educational activities for the children before they can be educated, ” added the president.

At the Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l’île, 66 requests for enrollment have been made so far. The organization said that it was prepared to receive a important volume of migrants. At the Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys, no application has yet been received, but a welcoming committee is already in place.

The latter includes a resource teacher, a professional of the language responsible for determining if children are to be enrolled in the reception class or in the regular program and administrative staff to take care of the registrations.

Slowdown in arrivals

The sound of a bell similar to the side of the Commission scolaire Marie-Victorin, in Longueuil, where no application has yet been filed, but where the intake process is ready.

During a press conference held almost exclusively in English, the federal ministers of Immigration and of public Security said yesterday that about 140 people per day have crossed illegally the border during the past three days, while the average was about 200 in the last week.

“We deal with in this time 95 cases per day. We want to increase the capacity to 200 folders, and our ultimate goal is to treat 500 per day, ” said Ahmed Hussen, the minister of Immigration, stating that about a dozen employees will be sent to Montreal this week to expedite the processing of applications. A first temporary accommodation centre has also been opened yesterday in Laval.