Christina Clark-Kazak, associate professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in discrimination in migration policies spoke to Local 514 about border crossings. She says migrants who are detained don’t have the same rights as citizens that are detained.

Clark-Kazak said migrants are detained for an undisclosed amount of time, stating that once they're in system it's hard to get out. She added that children can be detained as guest of a parent that’s detained and this is not reflected in statistics.

So why do some migrants illegally cross borders?

Clark-Kazak said refugees can’t make claim at the border, only once they are in Canada, as a result, this causes migrants to cross the border illegally. When people can’t get a Canadian visa to enter the country, they pay off smugglers.

Clark-Kazak said people are forced to violate the law to get into Canada – they can’t be penalized by using irregular routes – so this forces migrants to do an administrative crime through illegally entering Canada so they are permitted to make a refugee claim. Environmental degradation, loss of ability to farm or violence can be one of the reasons for leaving their home country. Clark-Kazak said human migration has happened for a long time and borders won’t prevent this. 

Has the pandemic changed borders?

She said there’s been a global increase in border restrictions – COVID-19 is a public health reason to close borders, but she said it's hard to remove harsh border restrictions once they're put in place, adding that immigration projections, however, have increased in Canada.

This interview was used in the full episode of Local 514, looking at why migrants cross borders and what experiences they face once in Canada. Watch the full episode here.