QUESTION PERIOD — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Immigration Levels
December 4, 2024
Leader, today we learned that, in Montreal, immigrants with precarious status now make up more than half the clientele of organizations that help homeless youth. These young people were lured in by Justin Trudeau’s false promises that they would have quick and easy access to a job and housing in Canada. However, they are now unemployed, homeless and without resources. On September 30, there was a backlog of 249,857 unprocessed asylum claims, while there were less than 10,000 such claims when Justin Trudeau took office. Our immigration system is broken and it is causing human misery. What is the government’s plan to deal with those 250,000 claims?
First, the plight of the homeless and those who came here seeking asylum and now find themselves unemployed and homeless is tragic and deplorable. However, to say that it was the Prime Minister who invited them and promised them jobs is an exaggeration. The Minister of Immigration has announced a series of changes and adjustments to our immigration targets to make our system work better. Finally, with all due respect, I would add that, this time, it is important that Canadians and Canadian leaders not spread the false information circulating in the media, both here and south of the border.
Leader, on January 28, 2017, Prime Minister Trudeau said the following:
To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you . . . .
He invited them to come and said, “Canadians will welcome you.” However, they were given no jobs and no housing. Some 500,000 people are living in Canada illegally. Over 5 million have temporary visas that can’t be renewed. I’ve asked the question before and received no answer, but I will ask again: What is your government going to do to expel these millions of people? Will you not admit that our border is leaking like a sieve?
Honestly, that really upsets me. It may be true that we have challenges and problems, but Canada must always remain open to people fleeing tyranny and threats. Unfortunately, we can’t take them all in. We’re doing our best. I don’t support the idea of shutting the door on people who —
Thank you, Senator Gold.
