Zi-Ann Lum, HuffPost Canada, July 25, 2019

It began with the singing of the old, less inclusive version of “O Canada.”

People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier revealed his vision for immigration at a Mississauga, Ont. rally Wednesday evening, calling for a decrease in immigration and refugee rates.

Bernier also made a pitch for the construction of fences along specific areas of the Canada-U.S. border.

“Instead of making it easier to enter Canada and helping these illegal refugees, as the Liberal government has done,” Bernier said, “We will make it more difficult, by fencing off the areas where it takes place such as Roxham Road in Quebec.”

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It is not illegal for migrants to cross a border between official ports of entry if they’re seeking asylum under Canadian and international law.

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The Quebec crossing near Champlain, N.Y. is the site where 95 per cent of irregular border crossers entered into Canada to seek asylum in 2018. {snip}

A majority of “irregular” border crossers are originally from Nigeria and Haiti. Statistics suggest Americans are the third largest group.

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The Canadian Border Services Agency confirmed last month that 866 of the 45,000 “irregular” asylum seekers who have crossed the border since 2017 have been removed from the country after their claims were rejected.