border visit october 20, 2019

Sunday, October 20, 2019. Afternoon at Roxham Road, USA.
We arrived at 3.20 pm but it was not until after 4 pm that a flurry of arrivals came one after the other. In total 22 people crossed into Canada this afternoon (7 women, 8 men and 7 children – 4 boys and 3 girls). We gave out hats, mits and gloves to about half of the people.

First came a City Taxi bringing a family from El Salvador (mother, father and little boy) along with a young man (about 18) from Yemen. The taxi driver told us that he had lived his life in Saudi Arabia where his parent migrated there but had not lived in Yemen, a country consumed by a terrible armed conflict and widespread famine.

Next a taxi brought a group of people from Kashmir: a couple and a family with two children, a girl and a boy.  The third taxi brought a couple with a little girl, who seemed of African origin.  Next, five people arrived in one taxi: two men and a woman with a teenage boy and a young girl.

After a pause, a taxi brought a lone male passenger with quite a bit of luggage. He looked exhausted and as though he had been through a lot of hardship. He was confused by the RCMP speech but finally crossed over. During the RCMP questioning he said that he spoke Arabic.

Finally, the shuttle bus brought a woman with a young boy about 7 years old and a black woman on her own.

RCMP behaviour was mixed. One officer was kind but also said, ‘it is not legal for you to apply for asylum here’ which is incorrect (see http://www.bridgesnotborders.ca/myths-and-facts-2.html ).  Another officer was belligerent and kept trying to get people to leave and go to the Lacolle Port of Entry.  For anyone seeking asylum this is dangerous advice. Because of the Safe Third Country Agreement, people applying for asylum at a regular Port of Entry risk being sent back to the USA where they will be detained and will be at risk of being sent back to their homelands without proper safeguards. This could put their lives in danger.