‘We just saw them walking down the driveway with the agents,’ says resident near U.S. border
Evelyne Bouchard was playing board games with her family on Saturday afternoon when she saw RCMP vehicles pull into her driveway
Bouchard is used to the police presence. She owns a farm in Hemmingford, Que., along the U.S. border and just two kilometres away from Roxham Road
But she says Saturday was out of the ordinary
As of 12 a.m., police presence increased in the town after access to the illegal crossing was closed — this due to changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which now prevent migrants from claiming asylum after crossing at Roxham Road
Later that same day, the RCMP came to inform Bouchard that agents were in the woods looking for migrants who crossed into Canada illegally and were on her property
A little while later we saw them escorting a family, two adults and two children, to their vehicle … We just saw them walking down the driveway with the agents
said Bouchard, adding that one of the children was so small, they had to be carried
She said seeing a family of migrants get apprehended first-hand was heartbreaking, even surreal
While she and her family were hanging out
and eating snacks
just a few hundred metres away, there were the people whose lives are clearly going through some really tough times
The juxtaposition of those two realities is really shocking
said Bouchard
Although Bouchard says the town has been the backdrop to the drama over immigration over the past few years, she expects to see more evidence of people struggling
with Roxham Road no longer an option for the migrants seeking safe haven
It’s just kind of part of living where we do. But it’s less common to actually see people being, you know, marched into vehicles like that
said Bouchard
We occasionally see footprints or items of clothing that have been dropped in the woods as people are trying to make their way through, and it’s just very moving and sad to see that
said Bouchard
A sense of shame
Bouchard says the community neighbouring the U.S. border is tightly knit, but their opinions diverge when it comes to immigration
Among her neighbours, some people somehow feel that closing Roxham is actually going to lead to anything in terms of reducing migration
said Bouchard
I think that the one thing that isn’t going to change … People who are escaping dire circumstances or who are desperate, will find a way through
Bouchard used to volunteer at Bridges not Borders, a non-profit organization based in Hemmingford, that helped support asylum seekers crossing into Canada via Roxham Road
As a longtime resident and a parent, she says she often reflects on how fortunate she is, considering the families struggling mere kilometres away
We live in this place where we can feel relatively safe and you know, our basic needs are met and our kids can go to school and we can have jobs
she said
To be … having people who are in very difficult circumstances passing right through … you can’t help but worry about them and how they’re doing
said Bouchard
I guess [I feel] the sense of shame too, if I’m honest with myself. A sense of shame that we are this well-off, rich country and that this is the welcome mat we’re rolling out, that we’re just forcing people to trek through the forest with their small children and instead of actually having proper due process for people to claim asylum. That just seems awful
‘We’re creating a lucrative market for smugglers’
The border to the U.S. is densely forested, says Bouchard. She says it’s part of what will make it dangerous for migrants attempting to cross illegally, perhaps through smugglers or traffickers in the coming weeks and months
We’re creating a lucrative market for smugglers, which doesn’t make me feel much safer
said Bouchard
As a Canadian living on the border, I’m not afraid of people who are trying to seek a better life [instead of] crossing regularly. I am much more concerned about people trying to make money off the backs of those vulnerable people
Advocates in Montreal say the changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement may embolden smugglers
Ralph Shayne, the protection co-ordinator for the Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes, says it’s a good day for smugglers
but a bad day for migrants, asylum seekers, human rights, you name it
Wendy Ayotte, a founding member of Bridges Not Borders, said the changes will make the Canadian border resemble the U.S. southern border, where smugglers escort migrants across dangerous crossing routes, trying to avoid border agents
This is what we are going to see in Canada and this is what our country is becoming
she saidThe government has gone down a very tired and dangerous route by trying to turn basically our border into a militarized zone where we are going to see people crossing in very unsafe conditions
Ayotte was present on Saturday as Roxham Road closed. She said it was one of the most desolate scenes she has witnessed in her five and a half years on the job.
In normal times, living near the border seemed pretty routine for local residents, said Gerald Beaudoin, mayor of Havelock, located near Hemmingford, Que
But now all of a sudden, it’s a big deal
said Beaudoin
You have these people who are clearly disadvantaged and all of a sudden you spring a 24-hour notice on them, clearly unfair to say the least
‘You can never stop people from crossing the border’
Dina Souleiman, the executive director of the Welcome Collective, an organization in Montreal that helps refugee claimants, agrees with those who say the closure of Roxham will do little to dissuade people from trying to enter Canada
Souleiman says the gesture of closing a border doesn’t actually function to achieve what it hopes to achieve
and that migrants will now increasingly cross between official points of entry
You can never stop people from crossing the border
Shayne said. The only difference now, he added, is it will be more difficult to keep track of them when they do
The modified agreement prevents migrants from claiming asylum in Canada until they have been in the country for 14 days, which provides an incentive, Shayne said, for people to hide out in Canada until the two weeks have passed
In addition to putting more people at the mercy of smugglers, he said, this could also make it much harder for community organizations to find and help migrants
If you ask me, it’s added pressure [on community organizations]
Shayne saidHow do you reach those populations
Souleiman said the messaging surrounding the changes to the STCA and the closure of Roxham Road was disheartening to the migrants she worked with
There’s definitely all that sort of negative messaging, you know that they’re lesser, that their lives are not important, that we’re not taking them seriously
she said
Bouchard said it’s really just the luck of the draw
She says she empathizes with the migrants, particularly as a parent
Your kid just looks to you to know what’s going on and for reassurance and just guidance through everything
said Bouchard
[I’m] thinking of how incredibly difficult it must be to have had to leave circumstances so dire that you would risk going through the bush to try to go to a new country, into an unknown future with your children, with your young children
she said
That’s really, really moving. And I worry. I worry about unscrupulous people trying to exploit these people
Rachel Watts, Matthew Lapierre· CBC News
