On choosing entry points

CBC reports that Canada's "safe third country" agreement with the U.S. which reduces the scope for legal refugee claims has driven would-be Canadians underground:

Canada's refugee agreement with the United States is forcing more people to try to enter Canada illegally, a study from Harvard says.

The report, entitled Bordering on Failure, says the number of refugee claimants at Canadian border crossings has dropped by more than 50 per cent in the past 18 months, and that more refugees are trying to find other ways into the country, including human smuggling...

Janet Dench, the executive director of the (Canadian Council for Refugees), says the number of refugee claims has dropped to about 4,000 from 9,000 in the year before the agreement was signed. And she says illegal crossings are on the rise.

"We do know that some of them are finding a way of getting into Canada irregularly," Dench said. "This is what we were frightened would happen. They have no recourse but resort to dangerous methods of crossing borders."

There doesn't seem to be much prospect that the Cons will be willing to question the agreement. After all, it's not news that Harper's definition of a mature relationship means not asking questions or holding anybody accountable. And with the Libs having signed the agreement in the first place, there unfortunately doesn't seem to be much chance to make any changes through Parliamentary pressure either.

Which is a shame, because in the long run, both Canada and the U.S. may be less safe if Canada ends up taking in more undocumented refugees due to an inflexible system for legal immigration. And even from the standpoint of continental relations, it's not hard to anticipate Canada's inflow of illegal immigrants today providing the basis for the next set of U.S. demands to close the border in the future.