Montreal Houses Asylum Seekers In Stadium As Cases Surge

MONTREAL, Aug 3 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 03rd Aug, 2017 ) : A recent surge in the number of asylum seekers arriving in Canada, most of them Haitians, forced authorities to scramble for emergency accommodations Wednesday, including housing people at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

"This is a major crisis... the system is not designed to handle such huge immigration demands," Customs and Immigration Union national president Jean-Pierre Fortin told AFP. He said 500 asylum seekers crossed the border Tuesday near the border post of Lacolle in southern Quebec, estimating that about 90 percent of them were Haitian.

Increasing numbers of migrants seeking asylum have been arriving in Canada in recent months, and authorities had been housing them in places such as university dorms and hotels. But the spike in arrivals means the existing facilities are no longer adequate.

According to Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, 2,500 migrants crossed the land border into southern Canada in July. Dozens of cots were placed in the corridors of Montreal's Olympic Stadium, the main venue for the 1976 Games. About 40 people were on the first busload of migrants to arrive at the stadium Wednesday, including several children.