Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Senator Gold, Quebec is currently experiencing an explosion in asylum applications. We welcomed 49,000 of the country’s 90,000 asylum seekers between November 2022 and June 2023, or 55% of the Canadian total.

I visited The Refugee Centre in Montreal last Wednesday. The organization offers various types of assistance and integration supports for people waiting for their status to be determined. The place was packed. Clients were sitting on the floor in the hallway. According to this centre, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is paying for thousands of hotel rooms to house asylum seekers when they arrive, but this non-profit organization, which helps them find a real home and deal with all kinds of formalities, is not eligible for federal funding.

Can you tell me whether the current legislation effectively prevents Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada from funding these services offered to asylum seekers by non-profit organizations?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Thank you. I’d still like to add one thing to the question you’re going to ask: Can the law be changed?

It seems rather absurd to spend millions of dollars on hotel rooms for up to a year, I’m told, rather than to ask and fund non‑profits capable of rehousing them for less in society, and helping them. This seems like an inconsistency that needs to be corrected.

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Senator Gold, the Iranian regime’s repression has forced many women to flee, including Nahid Modaressi, a member of Iran’s LGBTQ+ community who is particularly at risk.

In 2018, Ms. Modaressi fled Iran and obtained refugee status in Turkey. However, because of an agreement between Iran and Turkey, her status was not renewed and she is now facing deportation. A group of Canadians is prepared to welcome her here. She applied for a visa to enter Canada, but her application was denied. Urgent action is needed.

Senator Gold, can Canada do more to help Nahid Modaressi and other exiled women in the same situation?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Unfortunately, Senator Gold, the Rainbow Railroad coalition is overwhelmed. As such, Nahid Modaressi, like other women in her situation, would like to apply for refugee status in Canada but does not have the means to take a plane to get to Canada because her visa was denied.

Is there a way for Ms. Modaressi to apply for refugee status in Canada from Turkey?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. The Journal de Montréal has just published a whole section that characterizes the federal government’s immigration goal as a trap for Quebec and an existential threat to the survival of French in America.

I personally reject this perspective, which fuels xenophobia and the fear of immigration in Quebec. That said, I don’t believe that the federal government can simply ignore these alarmist scenarios. Ottawa has the responsibility to rebut these arguments and explain its objectives to reassure people. Senator Gold, what does the federal government intend to do to explain its policies, demonstrate the benefits of immigration and reassure people?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: The public is still scared, however, and some people are happy to take those fears and exploit them. I don’t think we can try to make them go away.

That was the point of my question. Is the federal government considering strong action to positively counter or correct the fearmongering about immigration? Unfortunately, the immigrants themselves are the ones who suffer from prejudice.

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Closing Roxham Road was undoubtedly inevitable. Like many others, however, I’m concerned about what happens next. One can’t help but notice the difference between how the 133,000 Ukrainian refugees have been treated and how the asylum seekers who arrive on foot at our borders are treated. Some have crossed a dozen countries to reach Canada.

Will closing the Roxham Road loophole cause more human misery or make it even worse? What means will desperate people use to enter Canada? It’s entirely understandable that the government would want to redirect migrants to institutional processes, but what are we going to do to ensure that these actions do not result in even greater tragedies?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Precisely, for this return to the United States, the Americans are grappling with an even bigger wave of migrants than we are. Some of the asylum seekers trying to enter Canada have already been turned back to the United States since Sunday.

Senator Gold, does the government know how the U.S. authorities are going to deal with these people and what will happen to them in this country that is already overflowing with migrants?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: I’m still a little perplexed, Senator Gold, because when the pandemic first hit, the federal government managed to get CERB out in record time, which clearly shows that bureaucratic obstacles can be overcome. However, this appears to be impossible today, even for passport services, which are essential. Why have officials not rearranged the employees’ work schedules in order to open passport offices on weekends?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: The man went to the passport office because he wanted to submit his application for processing. He was planning to leave in six weeks, so there was no rush. He just wanted to submit it. However, he was told not to submit it but to line up right away to get his passport. He was told to go ahead of other people. That means the lineups in Montreal include people who are not in urgent need of a passport. Is the government making the crisis worse by telling people to do this?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Senator Gold, if I may, I would like to return to the issue of the passport crisis, particularly in Montreal.

A colleague from Montreal told me a rather incredible story. He wanted to submit his passport application at the Service Canada office on Décarie Street in Montreal, six weeks before he was supposed to leave on a trip with his children. The clerk told him, “No, don’t do that, get in line now.” That means that some people in these lineups are leaving in six weeks and have been told that the system is so lousy that it is better to wait in line now than to submit their application. By doing this, by giving this kind of advice, is the government making the crisis worse?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: One year ago, the Senate and the House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion calling on the government to grant Canadian citizenship to Raif Badawi. However, nothing was done. The will of Parliament was not carried out.

I realize that this may involve confidential or sensitive information, but can the Government of Canada confirm that it is doing everything in its power, together with its allies, to lift the second part of Mr. Badawi’s sentence, the 10-year detention in Saudi Arabia for publishing a text that criticized the regime?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Senator Gold, 12 days ago one of the most famous prisoners of conscience in the world, Raif Badawi, was released after spending 10 years in prison in Saudi Arabia.

Unfortunately, that is not the end of his ordeal. His passport was confiscated and he has been banned from leaving Saudi Arabia for the next 10 years, in addition to being fined the equivalent of $335,000. Knowing that Mr. Badawi’s wife and three children, all naturalized Canadians living in Sherbrooke, have had to live without him for the past decade, is Canada prepared to give him safe passage and issue Raif Badawi a temporary passport so that he may be reunited with his family?