Canadian Border Officials Helpless By The Great Number Of Refugees Entering The Border

Canadian Border Services Agency officials over the weekend sent out a call for help after they were overwhelmed by the large number of refuges entering the border from the U.S.

The plea which was made to the province came after roughly 22 refugees crossed the U.S border into Manitoba near the Emerson border.

This influx of people into Canada is solely as a result of the ban made by the U.S. president Donald Trump on seven Islamic states from entering the country. But Canada had came become fro many of such people as the government had disclosed they will not close their doors on people in times of need and diversity is a very relevant aspect in the country.

However, the large number of people rushing to the Canadian border is becoming a concern for officials as they are worried if the country will be able to sustain the amount of people coming into the country.

Doug Johnston, a councilor for the rural municipality of Emerson-Franklin in southern Manitoba voiced after the incident saying “this is has gone beyond records”

In such a short period of time, this is the largest number of people Canadian officials have seen in recent times.
Evidently the people entering the border were very appreciative of the fact that they have the opportunity to begin afresh according to Rita Chahal, executive director of the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council. But a concerned Johnston is worried about the risk these refugees are taking in crossing the freezing cold border which might be detrimental. Some of the people crossing the border had most of their fingers gone due to the cold weather conditions.

Hence, the border officials are urging the federal and provincial government to come up with measures to handle the situation and also help the people crossing these dangerous borders.

However, helping refugees is a good initiative but also a risky on for border officials as safety and security factors rise up. Most people cross the border at night and it’s difficult to determine if they are genuine refugees or just criminals trying to get into the country.

For Greg Baranuik, a resident of Emerson stated the officials should tighten security at the border. It is by no means a wrong decision to help people crossing the border, he emphasized but the safety of Emerson residents should also be taken into consideration. Making people coming into the country go through proper security scans and procedures are just the right thing to do as border officials.