OTTAWA—The tide of migrants crossing into Quebec in search of asylum has grown into a rolling wave, as the federal and provincial governments face pressure to deal with thousands of newcomers who have arrived in just the past six weeks.

Newly released figures show the number of people crossing into the province has skyrocketed this summer. The RCMP intercepted nearly 3,000 people as they walked across the border in Quebec last month. A further 3,800 have come in the first half of August, the RCMP said.

That’s a big jump from June, when there were 781 RCMP interceptions in the province. It’s also more than 10 times the 245 people intercepted by police there in January.

Speaking to reporters Thursday in St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que., federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced the government will open a new shelter for migrants in Cornwall, a city of 46,000 in eastern Ontario near the Quebec border. Hundreds of asylum seekers crossing from the U.S. have already been housed in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, as well as in emergency tents set up at the border by the Canadian military.

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Garneau also said there would be 20 new staffers in Montreal to help process asylum applications and that there will be a ministerial task force, which includes Quebec’s immigration minister, Kathleen Weill, her federal counterpart, Ahmed Hussen, and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, to help manage the situation.

“There’s no crisis, but it’s a situation that is extraordinary but is very well-managed,” Garneau said in French.

“We actually responded very quickly under the circumstances… One cannot anticipate this kind of event, but one must respond.”

The moves come as opposition critics continue to slam the government for being ill-prepared to deal with the rising number of people walking into Canada from the U.S. this year — many of them travelling through the country from all over the world, claiming to be fleeing the immigration policies of the Trump administration.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel accused the government of “attempting to put a band-aid on a giant hole in a dam that has already burst.” She told the Star that new housing for asylum seekers will only encourage more to come and blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for creating a perception that Canada will be more welcoming to refugees.

She also said resources being taken up by the wave of people crossing from the U.S. — a country she pointed out is considered safe by the federal government — should be directed at more urgent asylum claimants.

“I don’t understand why the government is making an effort to set up shanty towns and refugee camps when we’re about to go into the winter, instead of saying: ‘This is illegal — we’re going to use all of the resources and processes, that have been long in place, to ensure that only those with legitimate claims are entering Canada,” Rempel said.

Jenny Kwan, an MP from B.C. and immigration critic for the NDP, said the government has failed to prepare for a situation it should have seen coming. For months, her party has called on the Liberals to abandon the Safe Third Country Agreement, which has a loophole that allows people coming from the U.S. to apply for asylum only if they avoid an official port of entry.

She called on the government to give the Immigration and Refugee Board more resources so it can process the glut of applicants efficiently. She also wants temporary work permits to be given out more quickly so migrants don’t have to rely on government support while they wait to hear if they’re accepted as refugees.

The government is “making people go through these irregular crossings, putting themselves at risk and putting the border communities in extremely stressful situations,” Kwan said.

“Nobody does this for fun. They’re doing this because they feel that they’re at risk. So we need to face that reality.”

She added, “The Liberals are more interested in looking like they’re progressive on refugees, than actually doing the hard work.”

The government announced Tuesday that the 13 Canadian consulates in the U.S. would disseminate information about Canada’s immigration system to people thinking about walking into the country. After being arrested and screened for security by officials, they will go through the regular hearing process. The message, said Garneau, is that not everyone will be given refugee status in Canada; many could be deported to their home countries.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Council for Refugees is also calling on Canada to withdraw from the Safe Third Country Agreement and boost resources for the refugee board. The group’s executive director, Janet Dench, said she’s concerned that the government is falling behind on eligibility claims, a process that typically happens within a day and that must be concluded before an asylum seeker can get in line for a hearing at the refugee board.

“This is putting huge pressures on people because they’re left in legal limbo,” she said.

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According to the Immigration and Refugee Board, the current processing time for claimants — after they’ve been deemed eligible for a hearing — is six and a half months. As of March, there were more than 21,000 pending cases.

Dench said the changes announced by the government have not done enough to speed up the process and address the backlog. New money is needed to address the spike in applicants, she said.

“There’s only so much blood you can squeeze from a stone.”

In Canada as a whole, there were 7,500 RCMP interceptions for the first seven months of the year — 6,366 of them in Quebec, according to the immigration department.

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