Customs & Immigration Union Leader
“Begging” For More Resources At Border
#LSN_Opinion Ahmed D. Hussen Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA - April 8, 2018 (LSN) “It looks like the government doesn’t take this seriously” says the leader of Canada’s Customs and Immigration Union.
For a long time now we have seen that the Trudeau government doesn’t take Canada’s borders seriously.
Now, the head of Canada’s Customs and Immigration Union Jean-Pierre Fortin is saying the same thing.
As reported by CBC, Fortin is ‘pleading for more resources at the border’ as the influx of illegal border crossers is expected to increase.
Already, over 500 people illegally crossed the Canadian border at Roxham Road in Quebec over the Easter weekend, and it looks like that’s just the beginning:
“It is a clear indication right now … that there will be a major influx over the coming weeks,” Fortin told CBC.
Fortin says the government is not ready for an illegal crossing surge, saying ‘he fears border officers will be left understaffed and under-resourced.’
Meanwhile, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen doesn’t seem willing to strengthen border resources, saying instead, “How you get ahead of it is you’re always vigilant, you track the numbers, you also track the different nationalities that are coming in and you tailor your messaging to those people.”
Yet, the report points out that while the government focused messaging on Haitians, most of those crossing illegally now are Nigerians. This could render any ‘messaging’ campaign totally worthless.
Fortin is “begging” for the minister to give more resources, but says “It looks like the government doesn’t take this seriously. It seems for them that it’s going to disappear in six months to a year, and we don’t see that. We don’t see that at all.”
As a result, Fortin is concerned that “security could be compromised” and waits at the border will go up.
He also noted the contradiction between the government saying “don’t come to Canada,” but pointing out that “we are building almost a brand new facility on Roxham Road.”
Since visuals often overpower words, the government is encouraging illegal crossings by having RCMP carry the luggage of illegal crossers and building new facilities to house and process those who breach Canada’s borders.
No amount of ‘messaging’ can beat those images.
Canadian concern vindicated
Using their usual strategy of trying to gaslight Canadians, the Trudeau government kept saying they were dealing with the border problem and wanted to discourage illegal crossings, even as their actions encouraged those very same illegal crossings.
Now, we can see that the concern of Canadians about our weak border has been vindicated, with Fortin saying exactly what millions of us have known for months: The Trudeau government refuses to take the security and integrity of our border seriously.
Spencer Fernando