Michelle Rempel Garner said she wished Justin Trudeau “had acted six years ago” as a loophole which allowed asylum seekers to walk into Canada is closed..Prime Minister Trudeau and President Joe Biden are expected to announce an amendment to the Safe Third Country Agreement — signed between Canada and the US in 2004 — this afternoon [March 24, 2023]..The STCA allows officers on both sides of the border to turn away asylum seekers at formal points of entry; however, Roxham Road is an unofficial crossing with no checkpoint on the US side..As a result, a large influx of asylum seekers — particularly during Donald Trump’s administration’s strict immigration laws — used Roxham Road to cross the border into Canada as their first point of entry and claim asylum. The Quebec-New York road has become somewhat of a metaphor for Canada’s complex immigration policies in recent years..Following a day of talks between the two leaders, the STCA will now apply along the whole border — no matter where the crossing took place — thus closing the loophole..Trudeau and Biden are also expected to announce a new program where Canada will take in 15,000 migrants fleeing violence in Central and South America..On March 23, 2023, Rempel Garner posted a compilation of previous speeches in Parliament — from as far back as 2017 — where she called for the STCA loophole to be closed..“I've been calling for the loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement (re: Roxham Road) to be closed since 2017,” she added on Twitter..“The Libs said [this] was impossible, irresponsible, and cast aspersions about motives. Six years and a huge immigration backlog later, here we are.”.“Honestly, it took a moment for me to process the announcement — well, it's preposition, to be precise.”.“I remember standing in the House while Trudeau borderline accused me of some pretty rotten things because I proposed it. I wish he acted six years ago.”.On the topic of the US-Canada border, the MP for Calgary Nose Hill also called on President Biden to remove COVID-19 travel restrictions for Canadian citizens seeking entry into the US..“During the president’s visit to Canada, Trudeau will have the perfect opportunity to take a public position on this issue,” said Rempel Garner..“There are many issues of importance the prime minister should raise with the American president, including addressing the ‘Buy America’ provision and other policies that are negatively impacting Alberta workers.”.“I have written extensively about this on my Substack and will continue to work hard to find solutions for the challenges facing my constituents.”
