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The Quebec government wants to lower the number of refugees in this province of Canada. MPs must decide in a few months how many immigrants will be admitted to Quebec between 2020 and 2022. Until Thursday, August 15, a parliamentary committee was examining this issue, which worries the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR) based in Canada.
The atmosphere was rather tense in the parliamentary committee during the exchanges between the Quebec Minister of Immigration and the representative in Canada of the UNHCR, Jean-Nicolas Beuze. Stung by the remarks of the latter in favor of a greater openness of Quebec to refugees, Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette defended himself.
" Inside Canada, at the reception of asylum seekers, everything rests on the Government of Quebec, retorted the Minister. In terms of reception, temporary installation, the expenses that are borne by the Government of Quebec are extraordinary expenses. "
Faced with a flagrant lack of manpower, the Quebec authorities are banking on a mainly economic immigration to meet the staffing needs . A desire quite consistent with the reception of refugees according to Jean-Nicolas Beuze.
" The minister acknowledged that refugees should be seen from a different perspective than just a humanitarian perspective," said the UNHCR representative in Canada. That it was people who worked, who bought houses, who paid taxes. After fifteen years, refugees pay more taxes than it cost us to bring them here and integrate them. So it's really a winning bet. "
Supported by a strong majority in Parliament, the Quebec government will no doubt maintain its goal of reducing the number of refugees in the coming years.