WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Over the past couple of years, a handful of people have been sneaking across the border at Manitoba from the United States and then filing for asylum, Canadian Border Service Agency statistics show. But since last year, refugee workers in Winnipeg say, there has been a noticeable surge.
The Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, known as Welcome Place, typically serves 50 to 60 asylum seekers per year, said its executive director, Rita Chahal. "Since April, we've seen already 300," she said.
While the government of Canada was unable to provide statistics on the number of people seeking refugee status who illegally enter the country, Sgt. Harold Pfleiderer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said "there has been an increase in illegal migration in Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia, with the largest increase being seen in Quebec."
A loophole in the rules covering asylum seekers has led some to walk for as long as eight hours in the middle of the night, through wintry landscapes and biting prairie cold, before arriving in Emerson.
While an agreement between Canada and the United States makes it impossible for them to simply present themselves at the border and claim asylum, those who make it into the country and then present themselves to border guards can do so.
Now, in light of the uncertainty and disruption created by President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration, refugee advocates and human-rights groups in Canada are demanding that the government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suspend or cancel the refugee pact, which is known as the Safe Third Country agreement.
"We are essentially encouraging people to come across the border through irregular means," said Sean Rehaag, a York University law professor who specializes in refugee and immigration law.
On Wednesday, the immigration and refugee clinical program at Harvard Law School issued a report stating that Trump's executive orders on immigration made the United States "not a safe country of asylum" for people fleeing persecution and violence.
"When Canada sends someone back to the U.S., we are saying we have confidence the U.S. is going to protect them if they need protection. We don't see how we can have confidence to say that in the current context," said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council For Refugees, a nonprofit umbrella organization of 170 refugee advocacy groups.
From Emerson, the refugee applicants typically take cabs for the 70-mile trip to the provincial capital of Winnipeg, where they formally apply for asylum, welfare checks and legal aid. The hearings are usually scheduled within two to three months of their application, but there are no guarantees. In 2015 the Immigration and Refugee Board approved 57.7 percent of the 16,521 refugee claims made inside Canada's borders.
The quasi-judicial board does not track how many claims come from people who bypassed border controls to enter Canada.
With the legal status of Trump's executive order still in limbo, Canada's government has shown no enthusiasm for suspending its agreement with Washington.
On Friday, Camielle Edwards, a spokesman for Ahmed Hussen, the immigration minister, said the agreement "remains an important tool for Canada and the U.S. to work together on the orderly handling of refugee claims made in our countries." She said, "The conditions of the agreement continue to be met, but we are continuing to monitor the situation closely."
Dench said history suggests that Canada's border will not be overwhelmed by refugee claimants if people entering from the United States are allowed to apply at the border.
"It's not as if everyone in the U.S. would suddenly want to come to Canada," she said.
Information for this article was contributed by Ian Austen of The New York Times.
A Section on 02/12/2017