The Canadian Press
EMERSON, Man.–A municipal politician in southern Manitoba is expressing concern about the potential for spring flooding and how that may effect the flow of asylum seekers into the province from the United States.
Greg Janzen, reeve of the Emerson-Franklin municipality, says RCMP and border patrol resources could be stretched if high water means refugee claimants are forced to walk further afield to get into Manitoba.
Janzen’s comments yesterday came the same day the U.S. National Weather Service said there is more than an 80 percent chance of major flooding along the Red River near the Manitoba border in the coming weeks.
Also yesterday, another seven claimants walked into the border town of Emerson and surrendered to local authorities, bringing the total number of asylum seekers arriving in the community since Jan. 1 to 111.
Janzen says more claimants are showing up during the week instead of on weekends, which is having an effect on available resources to handle them.
Local Conservative MP Ted Falk says he wants to see staff added to both the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency in the Emerson area, but not at the expense of diminishing emergency services for other riding residents.
Although dikes in both Emerson and nearby Dominion City have been built about half a metre or more above 1997 flood levels, Janzen said rising water levels could become an issue.
“What’s going to happen here if we get a flood and these people are still coming in?” the reeve said.
“They’re going to have to be coming in even farther away from Emerson and that’s more open field. With all the people coming across, it could widen the search for the RCMP and the border patrol.”
The Manitoba government will issue its first formal flood forecast on Monday.
“I’m hoping we’re not going to have to worry about the asylum seekers that much,” Janzen said, “because I’m hoping we’re going to have all the resources here when that time comes.”
A spokesman for the RCMP said that “the RCMP is continually assessing and enhancing resources at the border to ensure we can detect and arrest individuals illegally crossing into Manitoba.
“This includes adding both human and technological resources at the border.”
