Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland sought on Friday to address concerns that US President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to deport millions of illegal immigrants could send a wave of migrants north. He said Canada’s borders are “safe and secure.”
RCMP officials said they have been preparing for months for the possibility of increased migrant traffic at the border as illegal immigrants flee the United States.
In an interview with CBC the houseFreeland said her message was that “Canada controls our borders. All Canadians have the absolute right to expect our country to choose who comes here and who doesn’t.” “There is,” he said.
“I want people to know that their borders are safe and secure and will continue to be so, no matter what happens in the world,” Freeland told host Katherine Cullen.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland said in an interview with host Katherine Cullen of CBC Radio’s The House that Canada welcomes newcomers to the world in an “organized and systematic way.” He said that this is the message.
There is no guarantee that President Trump will actually carry out mass deportations, but his allies have cited Canada as a possible destination for illegal aliens to be removed from the United States.
“If the southern border is closed, where do you think illegal immigrants will go? The northern border,” Kelly Craft, President Trump’s former ambassador to Canada, said on Tuesday. “So Canada needs to be prepared.”
Pew Research Center estimate The U.S. illegal immigrant population has grown to 11 million people in 2022.
RCMP Sergeant Charles Poirier told CBC News Network on Friday that officers are considering adding more police cruisers, a permanent or semi-permanent building and chartering several buses to help migrants cross the border. Ta.
“Of course we don’t want something like this to happen, but if it does happen, at least we’re ready,” Poirier said.
Officials are already preparing for an influx of migrants, but one refugee advocate said the concerns are overblown and questioned why Canadian politicians would give migrants oxygen.
said Abdullah Daoud, executive director of the Montreal Refugee Centre. the house He doesn’t think President Trump’s promise of mass deportations will change much for Quebec or Canada.
“Policies take time,” Dowd said, adding that the surge in migrants “will probably last a very long time. We’re not going to have millions of people showing up at the border overnight.”
Dowd also claimed that President Trump has never said whether he would send illegal immigrants to Quebec or Canada as a whole. He said it was “bizarre” for a Canadian politician to suggest the country would be affected by Trump’s pledge.
In Quebec, Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon warned that millions of people could consider moving north after President Trump’s election. Quebec Premier François Legault said he called on Trudeau to “make sure we protect our borders.”
“So, unfortunately, this is not the leadership we want for Canada,” Dowd said. “We can’t engage in that polarization because that’s not a good way to deal with the policy changes that are going to happen over the next four years.”
Dowd said if more immigrants come north, Canada needs to “look at our infrastructure and see how it’s built to accommodate that increase.”
President Trump’s victory and Ukraine
President Trump’s return to the White House could also shake up Russia’s war against Ukraine. The next president vows to end the war promised to do so There are growing concerns that Ukraine could be forced into negotiations in as little as 24 hours.
Asked if she believed President Trump’s vow to end the war quickly, Freeland did not respond directly. She said, “When it comes to Ukraine, it’s the Ukrainians that I think we all need to listen to.”
“People outside Ukraine have consistently weakened the Ukrainian people,” Freeland said, adding that at the start of the war, experts told him that “Kiev would fall within a week.”
“Let’s admit it’s a great job.” [the Ukrainians] I’ve done it. Let’s continue to support them,” she said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was one of the first world leaders to publicly react to Trump’s victory. Celebrate your wins on social media He praised President Trump’s efforts to achieve “peace through strength.”
Ihor Mikhaltyshyn, secretary general of the Ukraine-Canadian Council (UCC), said he cannot speculate on what President Trump’s promise to end the war in one day means.
He said President Trump “is inheriting a situation of extreme importance to the national security of the United States,” and that the UCC “expects the next president to forge a strong relationship with the government of Ukraine.”
Mikhalchyshyn said there is “strong” bipartisan support for Ukraine in the United States and “we hope that will guide future actions.”
“It is in our interests to build a secure future and fight against dictatorships and Putin’s Russia,” he added.
