The Canadian immigration and public security ministers respond to Premier François Legault’s call to topple the government.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Presse Canadienne, was from federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller and Public Security Minister Dominic LeBlanc and addressed to Quebec’s newly named immigration minister, Jean-François Roberge.
The federal ministers wrote they were “surprised to learn of the comments made last week by the premier of Quebec to the effect that the actions carried out by the government of Canada over the past six months were insufficient.”
Miller and Leblanc said they wished to set the record straight and enumerated the measures taken by Ottawa to manage the immigration file.
They also called upon the Legault government to do more, specifically that it share with Ottawa the data necessary to identify asylum seekers who could be settled outside Quebec.
“We are of the opinion that this initiative would have a better chance of success if Quebec joined forces with us to encourage provincial conservative governments to participate in it rather than encourage a motion of censure by Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives,” they wrote.
The letter to Roberge notes that Ottawa had negotiated an additional protocol to the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States, which, since going into effect in March 2023, had reduced the number of irregular entries across the Canada-U.S. border.
The federal ministers also said that in February, Ottawa “introduced a partial visa obligation for Mexican citizens, who accounted for about 17 per cent of asylum requests in 2023.” Following these changes, the number of asylum requests from Mexican citizens dropped by 75 per cent, the letter states.
“For example, Employment and Social Development Canada has added a jobs bank to match asylum seekers with job openings across the country and this function is already being used,” they wrote, adding that to be effective, it was important for the program to be promoted among asylum seekers in Quebec.
The letter ends by stating: “Immigration is a shared jurisdiction and the government of Canada wishes to obtain collaboration and concrete actions from the government of Quebec so that certain commitments mentioned last June can produce more results.”