Following a request for support from the Federal Ministry of Public Security, responsible for the management of customs posts, a hundred soldiers from Valcartier, Montreal and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu built a canvas camp at the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing to be used to house Haitian asylum-seeking migrants who cross massively and illegally across the Canada-US border at Roxham https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21748-haiti-montreal-nearly-2-400-haitians-seeking-asylum-ceci-calls-for-help.html

This camp of modular tents with floors, lighting and heating, which should be completed this Thursday, will initially accommodate 500 people. According to Patrick Lefort, a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency, there are currently 700 people waiting to be processed and the waiting period is two to three days, until their identity is confirmed and that they were subject to security checks and so far there was no bed or shower on the site... only benches and chairs.

Major Yves Desbiens of the Canadian Army made it clear that deployed soldiers do not have a mandate to ensure the security of the border and that they will return to their bases once the camp is completed, with the exception of a small team that will be responsible for the maintenance of the camp as required. The supply of food, water, diapers, toilets and even beds, remains the responsibility of border services.

According to authorities, Montreal receive daily 250 refugee claimants, last night, 2,620 people reportedly slept in the various temporary shelters opened in recent weeks. "The situation is under control, but it is out of the ordinary," said the head of the Program of reception and integration of asylum seekers (PRAIDA), Francine Dupuis. The high number of arrivals, which began in early July , Continue at the same rate...

The customs union says that the number of Haitians at the border is higher than those reported by the authorities, which speak of about 500 people. The union says only on Tuesday last 900 lunches were served at the border... The customs union speaks of 400 people irregularly crossing the border from the United States every day.

On Wednesday it was still impossible to obtain from the authorities the total number of people who crossed the border and who have entered Quebec since early July.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21762-haiti-quebec-two-haitian-ministers-on-mission-in-montreal.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21748-haiti-montreal-nearly-2-400-haitians-seeking-asylum-ceci-calls-for-help.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21717-haiti-flash-waves-of-haitian-refugees-unprecedented-in-quebec.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21037-haiti-flash-extension-of-tps-procedures-to-follow.html

SL/ HaitiLibre