Transfer of migrants: Ottawa will protect “fundamental rights”, retorts Trudeau

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a jab Saturday to his Quebec counterpart, François Legault, who says half of the asylum seekers already established in Quebec must be forcibly moved to other provinces.

We are here to work constructively while defending people’s fundamental rightssaid Justin Trudeau, in Paris, during a press conference on the sidelines of the second and final day of the Francophonie Summit.

Justin Trudeau immediately stated that he wanted to avoid placing emphasis on domestic political disputes when traveling internationally.

Yet this is precisely what François Legault did throughout the week during his visit to France which began with a three-day economic mission.

He in turn mentioned the idea of ​​taking inspiration from France to create “waiting zones” for asylum seekers, then forcibly moving 80,000 of them who live in Quebec to other places. other provinces, which notably earned him criticism from the oppositions in Quebec, the federal government and the Bloc Québécois.

However, compulsory transfers would violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Ottawa pointed out. And the federal government says it is out of the question to deviate from it by invoking the derogation provision.

As for waiting areas, Justin Trudeau simply said that different countries have different issues and different ways of [les] approach. And Ottawa works with the provinces to welcome asylum seekers appropriatelyhe said.

The Legault government continues to repeat that the number of asylum seekers that Quebec receives is no longer tenable. He also notes that Ottawa’s approach, which consists of focusing solely on the will provinces and asylum seekers, did not in fact give no results.

And journey of shamesays the opposition

On X, the interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, Marc Tanguay, described Mr. Legault’s visit to France as journey of shame. According to him, Mr. Legault was unable to demonstrate height required by his position as Prime Minister.

In 2018, after a series of wanderings in immigration matters, he admitted “not to be a budding genius” in the field. It is clear that six years later, he has still failed to demonstrate the slightest competence or, worse, [la moindre] sensitivityhe writes.

Mr. Legault did not plan to speak to the media on Saturday and his team indicated that he did not intend to react during the day.