Hon. Sean Fraser, P.C., M.P., Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship: Before I begin, it is essential to acknowledge that Canada has both domestic and international obligations. The language we use is very important.

[English]

I do find it frustrating when I see a number of my colleagues describe people as being illegal. It’s a dangerous use of words, particularly when you recognize that our domestic and international laws provide an opportunity for people who are fleeing extremely vulnerable circumstances to make a claim for asylum within our body of laws. That doesn’t mean everyone does it, but I think labelling everyone who is seeking asylum as “an illegal” is a dangerous use of words.

That said, for people who do cross in an irregular fashion, including at Roxham Road, for example, it’s important that we have a system to deal with it, that we recognize that migration is a social fact and that it’s not up to us as to whether it will happen but how we manage it.

If we were simply to close Roxham Road tomorrow, for example —

[Translation]

 — that is not a solution. It simply moves the problem from one place to another. That is unacceptable.

[English]

What we need is to have a functioning asylum system where the rules are clear and that is properly funded, including by a $1.3 billion investment in the recent federal budget, to process people in a fair and timely way, so they understand the result of their claim, and so Canadians will have faith that the process has integrity.

With respect to the specific numbers, I don’t have them in front of me. If you have a specific request, I would invite the honourable senator to follow up with my office.