Montreal Sets Up Temporary Shelters To Handle Influx Of Asylum Seekers

Vermont Public | By Mitch Wertlieb,

Published August 9, 2017 at 8:57 AM EDT

To accommodate the rising number of people illegally crossing the border from the United States into Canada in order to seek asylum, Montreal has had to set up Olympic Stadium as a temporary shelter.

The CBC reports that approximately 1,174 asylum seekers crossed into Quebec in July 2017 — that's up from the 180 people who crossed seeking asylum in July 2016.

VPR spoke to Kate McKenna, a reporter for the CBC in Montreal, about the surge of asylum seekers that have been coming to Quebec.

Listen to the full audio above.

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Mitch Wertlieb

A graduate of NYU with a Master's Degree in journalism, Mitch has more than 20 years experience in radio news. He got his start as news director at NYU's college station, and moved on to a news director (and part-time DJ position) for commercial radio station WMVY on Martha's Vineyard. But public radio was where Mitch wanted to be and he eventually moved on to Boston where he worked for six years in a number of different capacities at member station WBUR...as a Senior Producer, Editor, and fill-in co-host of the nationally distributed Here and Now. Mitch has been a guest host of the national NPR sports program "Only A Game". He's also worked as an editor and producer for international news coverage with Monitor Radio in Boston.

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Liam Elder-Connors

Liam is Vermont Public’s public safety reporter, focusing on law enforcement, courts and the prison system.

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