Canada battles 130% spike in asylum seekers from Mexico, Haiti, Turkey and ... trends now
Canada is battling a 130 percent spike in the number of Mexicans, Haitians, and others seeking asylum there, overwhelming shelters and leaving officials scrambling with an $822 million crisis.
Shelter systems in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and other Canadian cities are over capacity, prompting its liberal government to take steps to deter the flows of people north.
Canada's migrant headache mirrors similar problems seen in the US, Britain, and the European Union, which are all struggling to cope with their own influxes of people from poorer countries.
In Peel, a Toronto suburb, the shelter system is running at 300 percent of capacity, with asylum-seekers occupying more than 70 percent of the beds and many more camping on the streets, officials say.
Canadian officers check the credentials of two people who entered Canada via Roxham Road on the Canada/US border
Canada's asylum claims jumped 130 percent to 137,900 between 2022 and 2023
'It's an ugly situation,' said Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton, Ontario.
Brown's city of some 700,000 people is close to Toronto Pearson, the country's busiest airport.
'If Canada's going to allow more asylum claimants into our country, we need to make sure that they're not left abandoned, and frankly, what we've seen is too much of that.'
Meanwhile, shelter systems in Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver are also over capacity — exacerbating a shortage of available places for the homeless population.
A rise in asylum claimants has become a major political issue across many countries, including the US.
Cities such as New York and Chicago are grappling with how to manage the waves of migrants who've traveled across the southern border.
Canada's geography means it sees a fraction as many irregular border crossings as the US, but there's been an increase in the numbers arriving by air — particularly from Mexico.
The influx has prompted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government to make policy shifts.
Last year, Trudeau and US President Joe Biden agreed to end a pact that had resulted in asylum-seekers crossing into Canada from the US at a location known as Roxham Road.
Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton, Ontario, calls Canada's migrant crisis 'an ugly situation'
Protestors rally against Canada regularizing undocumented migrants in Montreal, Quebec
In February, Trudeau's government reimposed visa rules for many Mexican citizens.
Last month, Canada said it plans to reduce the size of its temporary resident population, a group that includes asylum claimants and foreigners on temporary work
