‘We can’t afford a Roxham 2.0’: Quebec Premier Legault

Quebec Premier François Legault says the province can’t afford to welcome a new wave of immigrants and asylum seekers like the ones who arrived through Roxham Road a few years ago. That illegal crossing was closed in March 2023.

Legault made the statement on Tuesday morning during a meeting with the Quebec-United States ministerial working group.

He also announced that the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) will now patrol the border with the United States.

“Indeed, there is a real risk that Americans, so to speak illegal immigrants, will rush towards the Canadian and Quebec border in the coming weeks,” he said in a press scrum at the National Assembly.

The committee was established after President Donald Trump was elected and made several comments about mass deportations for illegal immigrants during his presidential campaign. 

The SQ will conduct “visual investigations” at the borders and is in close contact with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), but also with authorities in the border states of New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and New York, said Legault.

Public Security Minister François Bonnardel will provide a status report every week, and he will also establish contacts with municipalities near the border.  

“There are citizens who are worried that the same situation (as Roxham Road) will happen again,” said Legault. “It is very important that Quebec, and Canada, do not become a hub in the coming weeks and months for illegal immigrants who could come to Canada.”

In a short statement, Legault discussed different scenarios like possible changes to the Canada–United States Safe Third Country Agreement.

The Quebec committee is also looking into potential tariffs that could be imposed on products from Quebec and Canada.

Legault assured, among other things, that he would defend the supply management system, which protects dairy producers, who are attacked and challenged regularly when Canada undertakes free trade negotiations with its partners.

“We must prepare ourselves because it would be irresponsible to think that the United States will not put supply management on the table,” he added.

This refers to the cultural exception for products from the free trade agreement – a fight that Quebec has been waging for decades.

Legault recalled that Robert Lighthizer, who was the trade representative in the first Trump administration, “doesn’t like that very much.”

However, the Quebec Premier added that “it is important, for our language, for our identity, that cultural products be exempt.”

Legault wants Quebec to be a stakeholder when Canada negotiates with the United States. 

The CAQ government had already indicated its intention to appoint a “high-level special emissary” to represent Quebec during the re-negotiation of the Canada-United States-Mexico free trade agreement in 2026.

The provincial working group is made up of: Christine Fréchette, Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Energy; Christopher Skeete, Minister for the Economy; Martine Biron, Minister of International Relations and Francophonie; Eric Girard, Minister of Finance; Jean-François Roberge, Minister of Immigration, Francization and Integration; Maïté Blanchette Vézina, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry; André Lamontagne, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; and François Bonnardel, Minister of Public Security.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews