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August 23rd, 2017

NDP: Liberals providing ‘misleading’ information on asylum seekers

OTTAWA – In a letter to the Immigration Minister, Ahmed Hussen, the NDP’s Critic for Immigration and Refugees claims the Minister along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are providing contradictory and disingenuous information on the recent surge in asylum seekers crossing the Canada-US border.

Kwan compares recent statements by Liberals with Trudeau’s original tweet, following US President Trump’s policy banning travel from several Muslim countries, which welcomed refugees to Canada.

“Many are now asking whether the Prime Minister was truly interested in following through with substantial action or if he was instead content with the spike in international attention and praise that came with it,” Kwan wrote.

Kwan also takes issue with Minister Hussen’s claim that the US remains a safe country for asylum seekers and she chastises the Liberal government for refusing to suspend the safe third country agreement with the US.

“It contradicts the reality of the anti-immigration policies put in place by the Trump administration as well as the lived experience of many in the immigrant community living in the US,” Kwan wrote. “Additionally, the events of last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, which elevated the racist, anti-immigrant and white supremacist movements to a level not seen in North America for over a generation, undeniably increases insecurity for all people of colour.”

Jenny Kwan’s full letter can be found here: http://www.ndp.ca/sites/default/files/2017-08-22_kwan_letter_to_the_minister_-asylum_crossings-_en.pdf