Olympic Stadium opened to temporarily host 'intense' surge of asylum seekers from U.S. (Updated)

Last edited Wed Aug 2, 2017, 11:38 AM - Edit history (2)

Source: CBC

13 minutes ago

Due to a surge of asylum seekers coming from the United States to Quebec, a temporary shelter has been opened at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

"We've never seen this before," said Francine Dupuis, spokesperson for PRAIDA, the provincial government organization that helps claimants in their first months.

"It's really quite a bit more intense than what we're used to."

<snip>

In addition to the centre at the Olympic Stadium, Dupuis said a number of additional centres have been opened, and they're prepared to open more if need be.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/olympic-stadium-opened-to-temporarily-house-intense-surge-of-asylum-seekers-from-u-s-1.4231808?cmp=rss

---

From Montreal Gazette:

Published on: August 2, 2017 Last Updated: August 2, 2017 10:43 AM EDT

Montreals Olympic Stadium, the site of sporting events, rock concerts and trade shows, has reportedly assumed a new vocation: refugee shelter.

Local reports say the east end stadium is in the process of setting up beds for hundreds of refugee claimants, many of them Haitians fleeing the United States for fear their temporary resident status in that country will be revoked.

The reports come as figures compiled by the Canadian Border Services Agency indicate Quebec has become Canadas main entry point for refugees.

The CBSA figures show that of the 4,345 cases of persons have either sought asylum at border stations or been intercepted by police while trying to enter Canada in the first six months of 2017, 3,350 were recorded in Quebec.

This story will be updated.

http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/montreals-big-o-used-to-shelter-haitian-refugees-flowing-from-u-s-to-canada