By Canadian Press

Canada to welcome just 4,000 additional migrants from Americas by 2028: White House

Jun 10, 2022 | 10:26 AM

LOS ANGELES — The White House has released details of Canada’s contribution to a hemispheric effort at the Summit of the Americas to ease the pressure caused by irregular migration.

The U.S. says Canada has agreed to welcome 4,000 additional migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean by 2028 as part of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection.

The agreement also includes an additional 50,000 agricultural workers this year from Mexico, Guatemala and the Caribbean.

The federal government is also spending $26.9 million in 2022-23 on measures to address the root causes of irregular migration.

The money is for programs to improve integration and border management, protect the rights of migrants and host communities, advance gender equality and tackle human smuggling.

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The White House released the details in a fact sheet in advance of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s speech on the final day of the summit.

Officials say Trudeau will remind delegates that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, and that small and developing nations still need support.

Later Friday, Trudeau is meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as the leaders of Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.

Trudeau met for an hour Thursday with U.S. President Joe Biden, who agreed to a visit to Canada in the “coming months,” his first since becoming president in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think we both share the same sense that the possibilities for our hemisphere are unlimited,” Biden told Trudeau, calling it the “most democratic hemisphere in the world.”

Trudeau responded by saying it’s “extraordinarily important” for close partners like Canada and the U.S. to be there for each other and for allies around the globe.

“The work that we can do on supporting and projecting and sharing our values is a way of actually supporting and impacting citizens around the world,” Trudeau said.

Doing so, he said, helps make the case “that democracy is not just fairer, but it’s also better for citizens, putting food on the table, putting futures in front of them.”

The federal government’s official readout of the meeting mentioned their mutual support of Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and that Trudeau also brought up Canada’s support for NATO and the plan to modernize the continental defence system known as Norad.

Trudeau also “expressed his support” for Biden’s proposed hemispheric “Partnership for Economic Prosperity,” but the readout did not mention whether Canada has been invited to take part.

He also committed to working closely with the U.S. and other partners “to respond to the current humanitarian, protection, and irregular migration challenges in the region.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2022.

James McCarten, The Canadian Press