Roxham Road, bodies near the border and the future of Canada-U.S. migration

In today’s Big Story podcast, just days after Canada’s official unofficial border crossing at Roxham Road was shut down, eight bodies were recovered from the waters of the St. Lawrence River near the Canada-U.S. border. The bodies belong to migrants believed to be travelling from Canada to the United States, but without the Roxham crossing, advocates say we should expect to see more dangerous attempts to cross the border that could end in tragedy.

On today’s The Big Story, Toronto Star’s immigration and refugee reporter Nicholas Keung walks us through the realities of the Roxham Road closure.

“Having that sense of control of our borders, that’s preoccupying government officials,” he said, “and sometimes in that process we may forget about that global, universal humanity that we need more [of] in this world.”

So why did the government close Roxham Road, and was it the right call? What comes next for the border, and those seeking to cross it? And how should Canada balance the needs of border security and a migrant crisis that is only going to accelerate in the years to come?

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