Minister Blair clarifies his remarks

Ottawa – September 24, 2018 – Today, the Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, issued the following statement.

During an interview last week, Minister Blair referred to asylum seekers irregularly crossing the border as “having overwhelmingly left the country”. Minister Blair would like to clarify that he was referring to a small cohort of failed claimant asylum seekers.

“I clearly misspoke in suggesting the majority who arrived last year have left. They have not. They await disposition of their claim. Sorry for the obvious confusion that I caused"- Minister Bill Blair

We remain unwavering in our commitment to protect the safety of Canadians, keep our borders secure and provide due process to asylum claimants entering the country. Irregular border-crossers are thoroughly screened, and they do not get a free ticket to remain in Canada.

We are taking a responsible approach and have made significant investments to improve border security and the speeding up processing of asylum claims. We will always stand to protect Canada’s system and are taking concrete measures to do so.