Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: My question is also for Senator Gold.

Senator Gold, last Friday, before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, Michael Duheme, Deputy Commissioner at the RCMP, revealed the existence of a well-established smuggling ring to bring migrants to Roxham Road, which is very well known.

More and more migrants, who are being exploited by these smugglers with the help of charitable organizations, are entering Canada illegally.

The RCMP says that it is powerless in this situation, which is only getting worse because these smuggling rings are rampant on the other side of the border in the United States, where the laws are different from those in Canada.

Senator Gold, does the Prime Minister of Canada plan to deal with this issue, which he’s allowed to worsen for five years, by asking his American counterpart to take action and renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement?

Senator Boisvenu: Senator Gold, while legal immigrants are waiting up to 10 years to receive a positive response from the government, the RCMP has said that, between January and October 2022, nearly 31,000 migrants were intercepted in Quebec. I don’t know how many of them are criminals, but we do know that, in 2021, 469 criminals crossed into Canada at Roxham Road.

According to Mr. Duheme, the RCMP is mobilizing significant material and human resources to manage this massive flow of asylum seekers, which includes many criminals, when these resources could be used to manage crime throughout Canada.

Do you have an answer to the question I asked on October 20 about why the Canada Border Services Agency hasn’t investigated the 469 criminals who entered Canada illegally?

Also, do you know how many foreign criminals have been deported from Canada since 2020?