At the request of opposition MPs, the House of Commons Citizenship and Immigration Committee has agreed to meet twice more this summer to discuss the influx of asylum seekers crossing into Canada from the U.S.

The committee has agreed to meet twice more before Aug. 3. Ralph Goodale, minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, Jean-Yves Duclos, minister of families, children and social development, and Ahmed Hussen, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship Canada, are all expected to attend the meetings.

During an emergency session on Monday, Conservative and NDP MPs put pressure on their Liberal counterparts to undertake a study examining the federal government’s response to the number of asylum seekers entering the country and the strain they’re putting on certain provinces. The meeting was requested by NDP immigration and refugee critic Jenny Kwan and Conservative critic Michelle Rempel, who are both vice-chairs of the committee.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of asylum seekers entering the country between ports of entry has been steadily decreasing since April. The agency reported that RCMP intercepted approximately 1,200 border crossers in June – down from 2,500 in April.

Quebec and Ontario have seen the highest number of new arrivals, which has put on a strain on provincial and municipal resources. Rempel said she called for the emergency meeting after hearing from officials from both provinces who say their shelters have reached capacity.

Newly elected Ontario Premier Doug Ford made headlines earlier this month when he declared that Ottawa should foot the bill for any new asylum seekers crossing into the province illegally.

On Monday morning, the government announced its support for asylum seekers currently residing in two Toronto college dormitories that need to be vacated by early August. In a statement, the Liberals said it would help provide “housing support” for those individuals and that more specific details would be forthcoming.

The government also said Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency would be increasing the number of temporary beds available for asylum seekers at the border in order to relieve some of the pressure on larger cities, such as Toronto and Montreal.

“Toronto and Montreal, as major population centres, face the greatest challenges when it comes to housing asylum claimants, and we will continue to work with them to come up with long-term, workable solutions to those challenges,” Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said in the release.

In a series of tweets on Sunday, Rempel accused the Liberal government of mishandling resources to deal with asylum seekers and allowing illegal border crossers entry into the country while other refugees have to wait.

“Under Trudeau, the wait time to enter Canada illegally from the US is zero days,” she wrote.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen have defended the government’s handling of asylum seekers in a number of interviews earlier in July. They said the government has an obligation under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and other international commitments to process anyone who enters the country.

"This is a legal responsibility, we can’t opt out of it, it's not a choice… we are obligated to give these people a fair hearing,” Hussen told CTV News Channel.

With files from The Canadian Press