Ottawa is looking for premises to accommodate asylum seekers at the border

If a wave of asylum seekers arrives in Quebec from the United States, Ottawa intends to be ready this time.

As US President Donald Trump increases threats against illegal immigrantsthe Canadian government is looking for new premises on the Canadian-American border to accommodate them.

In an announcement published online Wednesday by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), Ottawa indicates that it wants to rent spaces that can accommodate up to 200 people, near the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing.

These will serve as administrative processing center. In other words, they would make it possible to analyze identity documents and asylum requests from the clientele expected.

It is already through this sector that, starting in 2017, tens of thousands of people left the United States, a few months after the first election of Donald Trump, to reach Canada via Roxham Road.

[L’immeuble doit] be large enough and provided with the necessary equipment, facilities and infrastructure to accommodate an office space, a reception area, a meal distribution area and a waiting room with a capacity of 50 to 200 people.

This land, which Ottawa is seeking within a 15 kilometer radius of the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing, must also be large enough to accommodate bus traffic and parkingbut also for allow the installation of storage containers and trailersspecifies the federal offer.

Such arrangements (New window) had already emerged along the motorway, near the border, to welcome and house asylum seekers coming from Roxham Road. They were then gradually removed, like the modular complex located at the end of Roxham Road, demolished in September 2023.

No indications of refugee wave

To date, however, there is no indication that a situation similar to the years spent at Roxham Road is being repeated.

According to our information, since the re-election of Donald Trump last fall, the number of illegal entries into Canada – clandestine crossings are more in the other direction – has not increased significantly, nor have requests asylum by land.

Proof also that the Canadian authorities are navigating a little in the dark, Ottawa is only seeking to rent premises for a period of one year, from May 1, 2025, with four three-month renewal options.

Since the American president’s return to power, Canadian authorities have stepped up actions and speeches to secure the border. Additional agents have been added to southern Quebec, and Ottawa has promised new technologies, such as drones, infrared sensors and helicopters.

For his part, upon his swearing in, Donald Trump confirmed his desire to deport millions of people. It also suspended the entry of refugees into the United States.

In 2017, his actions led to the arrival in Quebec of thousands of Haitian and Nigerian nationals, who had been living in the United States for years. Subsequently, Roxham Road became world famous and migrants from multiple places around the world used this border route to seek asylum in Canada.

Until March 2023 and the revision of the Safe Third Country Agreement concluded by Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden, more than 113,000 asylum requests were made from Roxham Road, where Canadian authorities had installed and then expanded and modernized their facilities.

The renegotiation of this Canadian-American agreement has significantly tightened the rules surrounding asylum requests by land. From now on, whatever the point of entry, an asylum request must be made in the first of the two countries crossed.

Exceptions nevertheless exist, particularly concerning minors or family members. Those concerned can make their request directly at a border post.