CORNWALL – Facing a crushing number of asylum seekers in Quebec, Cornwall will temporarily host some of those people.
Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced today, Nav Canada will have 300 rooms available and more room to set up tents on site.
“This is to temporarily accommodate whilst looking for more permanent lodgings in the Montreal area. It’s important to point out, some of the asylum seekers – they’re a minority – they want to go to Ontario as opposed to Quebec,” Garneau said during a news conference.
The move comes as more than 3,800 refugees have flooded into Quebec across the Canada-U.S. border in the first half of this month, according to the RCMP.
Many of the people are Haitians from the United States, who left their home country during the 2010 earthquake. They were under protected status in the USA, but that provision is set to expire in January.
While the situation is out of the ordinary, Garneau says the situation is under control.
The Nav Canada accommodations are part of four initiatives Garneau announced today, including a task force with members from Ontario and Quebec.