In the first quarter of 2023, nearly 14,000 people illegally entered Canada from the United States, claiming asylum. As with previous years, the overwhelming majority came through Roxham Road from New York State to Quebec.
Here are the official numbers thus far for 2023:
| YEAR: 2023 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MONTH | QUEBEC | MANITOBA | B.C. | OTHERS | TOTAL |
| January | 4,875 | 19 | 100 | 0 | 4,994 |
| February | 4,517 | 5 | 59 | 0 | 4,581 |
| March | 4,087 | 15 | 71 | 0 | 4,173 |
| TOTAL | 13,479 | 39 | 230 | 0 | 13,748 |
Supposedly, Roxham Road was closed as a means of illegally entering Canada. Under the revised version of the Safe Third Country Agreement, there isn’t a loophole which allows people to circumvent the law simply by bypassing border checkpoints.
On March 24, 2023, Canada and the United States announced the expansion of the STCA across the entire land border, including internal waterways. The expansion takes effect as of 12:01 a.m. EDT on March 25, 2023. If you crossed the border to make an asylum (refugee) claim and don’t meet one of the Agreement’s exceptions, you’ll be returned to the U.S.
Of course, the new agreement calls for Canada to accept a minimum of 15,000 people (presumably extra), seeking asylum. Because…. why wouldn’t it?
We’ll have to see what comes of this.
As for where people have been coming from, data is available from 2017 through 2023.
For the last decade or so, these are the published numbers:
| PROVINCE/TERRITORY | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prince Edward Island | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nova Scotia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Brunswick | 10 | 5 | 5 | ? | ? | 25 |
| Quebec | 1,335 | 1,295 | 785 | 875 | 1,035 | 2,595 |
| Ontario | 2,660 | 2,340 | 1,995 | 2,630 | 2,790 | 3,7935 |
| Manitoba | 20 | 15 | 25 | 10 | 225 | 505 |
| Saskatchewan | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 30 |
| Alberta | 35 | 40 | 35 | 65 | 70 | 120 |
| British Columbia | 125 | 85 | 110 | 130 | 170 | 220 |
| Yukon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Northwest Territories | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nunavut | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 4,185 | 3,770 | 2,955 | 3,715 | 4,290 | 7,365 |
Illegals were still coming into Canada via land border crossings during the Harper years. Interestingly though, it only receives major attention when Liberals are in power. A cynic may wonder why.
| YEAR: 2017 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MONTH | QUEBEC | MANITOBA | B.C. | OTHERS | TOTAL |
| January | 245 | 19 | 46 | 5 | 315 |
| February | 452 | 142 | 84 | 0 | 678 |
| March | 654 | 170 | 71 | 2 | 897 |
| April | 672 | 146 | 32 | 9 | 859 |
| May | 576 | 106 | 60 | 0 | 742 |
| June | 781 | 63 | 39 | 1 | 884 |
| July | 2,996 | 87 | 51 | 0 | 3,314 |
| August | 5,530 | 80 | 102 | 0 | 5,712 |
| September | 1,720 | 78 | 79 | 4 | 1,881 |
| October | 1,755 | 67 | 68 | 8 | 1,890 |
| November | 1,539 | 38 | 46 | 0 | 1,623 |
| December | 1,916 | 22 | 40 | 0 | 1,978 |
| TOTAL | 18,836 | 1,018 | 718 | 22 | 20,593 |
| YEAR: 2018 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MONTH | QUEBEC | MANITOBA | B.C. | OTHERS | TOTAL |
| January | 1,458 | 18 | 41 | 0 | 1,517 |
| February | 1,486 | 31 | 48 | 0 | 1,565 |
| March | 1,884 | 53 | 33 | 0 | 1,970 |
| April | 2,479 | 50 | 31 | 0 | 2,560 |
| May | 1,775 | 36 | 53 | 0 | 1,869 |
| June | 1,179 | 31 | 53 | 0 | 1,263 |
| July | 1,552 | 51 | 31 | 0 | 1,634 |
| August | 1,666 | 39 | 39 | 3 | 1,747 |
| September | 1,485 | 44 | 68 | 4 | 1,601 |
| October | 1,334 | 23 | 37 | 0 | 1,394 |
| November | 978 | 23 | 18 | 0 | 1,019 |
| December | 1,242 | 11 | 27 | 0 | 1,280 |
| TOTAL | 18,518 | 410 | 479 | 7 | 19,419 |
| YEAR: 2019 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MONTH | QUEBEC | MANITOBA | B.C. | OTHERS | TOTAL |
| January | 871 | 1 | 16 | 1 | 888 |
| February | 800 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 808 |
| March | 967 | 13 | 22 | 0 | 1,002 |
| April | 1,206 | 15 | 25 | 0 | 1,246 |
| May | 1,149 | 27 | 20 | 0 | 1,196 |
| June | 1,536 | 26 | 5 | 0 | 1,567 |
| July | 1,835 | 23 | 15 | 1 | 1,874 |
| August | 1,712 | 26 | 22 | 2 | 1,762 |
| September | 1,706 | 19 | 17 | 0 | 1,737 |
| October | 1,595 | 18 | 8 | 1 | 1,622 |
| November | 1,118 | 9 | 21 | 0 | 1,148 |
| December | 1,646 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1,653 |
| TOTAL | 16,136 | 180 | 182 | 9 | 16,503 |
| YEAR: 2020 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MONTH | QUEBEC | MANITOBA | B.C. | OTHERS | TOTAL |
| January | 1,086 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1,100 |
| February | 976 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 980 |
| March | 930 | 7 | 18 | 0 | 955 |
| April | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| May | 17 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 21 |
| June | 28 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 33 |
| July | 29 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 48 |
| August | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| September | 30 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 41 |
| October | 27 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 31 |
| November | 24 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 32 |
| December | 26 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 36 |
| TOTAL | 3,189 | 28 | 84 | 1 | 3,302 |
| YEAR: 2021 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MONTH | QUEBEC | MANITOBA | B.C. | OTHERS | TOTAL |
| January | 28 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 39 |
| February | 39 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 40 |
| March | 29 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 36 |
| April | 29 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 33 |
| May | 12 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 28 |
| June | 11 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 17 |
| July | 28 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 39 |
| August | 63 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 76 |
| September | 150 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 169 |
| October | 96 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 113 |
| November | 832 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 845 |
| December | 2,778 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 2,811 |
| TOTAL | 4,095 | 19 | 132 | 0 | 4,246 |
| YEAR: 2022 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MONTH | QUEBEC | MANITOBA | B.C. | OTHERS | TOTAL |
| January | 2,367 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 2,383 |
| February | 2,154 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 2,164 |
| March | 2,492 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 2,502 |
| April | 2,791 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 2,805 |
| May | 3,449 | 3 | 40 | 1 | 3,493 |
| June | 3,066 | 3 | 14 | 3 | 3,086 |
| July | 3,645 | 3 | 29 | 0 | 3,677 |
| August | 3,234 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 3,249 |
| September | 3,650 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3,660 |
| October | 3,901 | 16 | 34 | 0 | 3,951 |
| November | 3,731 | 23 | 34 | 0 | 3,788 |
| December | 4,689 | 3 | 52 | 1 | 4,745 |
| TOTALS | 39,171 | 72 | 289 | 7 | 39,540 |
The numbers did drop considerably in 2020 through early 2022. This is probably done out of necessity in order to keep the “pandemic” narrative going. Letting people stroll in would have considerably undermined it.
And here are some other things to consider:
In 2019, something happened that wasn’t really reported on. It was that the Canadian Government scrapped the DCO, or Designated Country of Origin policy. This stopped people from 42 countries (mainly in Europe) from being able to abuse the refugee system with bogus claims.
The Parties agree to review this Agreement and its implementation. The first review shall take place not later than 12 months from the date of entry into force and shall be jointly conducted by representatives of each Party. The Parties shall invite the UNHCR to participate in this review. The Parties shall cooperate with UNHCR in the monitoring of this Agreement and seek input from non-governmental organizations.
As for the Safe 3rd Country Agreement, people are still allowed to enter, and it’s still being gamed by human smugglers and traffickers. Few people know this, but the Treaty is actually a 3-way arrangement with the UNHCR acting as a sort of facilitator. Now, this new version is supposed to prevent the kind of fraud that’s been going on, but who knows?
The U.N. High Commission on Refugees is a party to the Canada/U.S. border, at least as far as asylum claims are concerned. If both countries are considered “safe”, then why is this kind of shopping allowed?
Not only is the United Nations a party to U.S/Canada border security, but the organization distributes information packages on how to circumvent the Safe Third Country Agreement. While claiming to care about the integrity of countries, they publish materials to do exactly the opposite.
Perhaps there will be an updated edition given changes to the STCA.
And no, this isn’t just well meaning naivety. The U.N. has extensively studied the connection between lack of border enforcement, and the facilitation of human smuggling and trafficking. It isn’t a surprise that open borders lead to increases in illegal crossings. They know exactly what’s going on.
This isn’t an issue of incompetence, but deliberate subversion.
(1) https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/statistics/Pages/irregular-border-crossers-countries.aspx
(2) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims/processed-claims.html
(3) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims/asylum-claims-2017.html
(4) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims/asylum-claims-2018.html
(5) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims/asylum-claims-2019.html
(6) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims/asylum-claims-2020.html
(7) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims/asylum-claims-2021.html
(8) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims/asylum-claims-2022.html
(9) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims/asylum-claims-2023.html
(10) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2019/05/canada-ends-the-designated-country-of-origin-practice.html
(11) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/agreements/safe-third-country-agreement/final-text.html
(12) https://canucklaw.ca/tsce-10c-bit-of-history-doug-rob-ford-voted-in-2013-for-sanctuary-toronto-amnesty-for-illegals/
(13) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2019/05/canada-ends-the-designated-country-of-origin-practice.html
(14) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/agreements/safe-third-country-agreement/final-text.html
(15) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/agreements/safe-third-country-agreement.html
(16) UNHCR Information On Circumventing Border Security
(17) https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Migrant-Smuggling/Smuggling_of_Migrants_A_Global_Review.pdf