Activists promote sanctuary city idea

The notion of making Montreal a sanctuary city has floated around. A rally Saturday pressed for the idea.

This piece briefly recaps the recent history: Denis Coderre announced it in 2017, but it proved to be an empty promise; Valérie Plante undid this the following year on the realistic basis that the city doesn’t have the right to defy federal government orders. Nothing has changed in that area since.

The person quoted in the current piece says being a sanctuary city “means allowing everyone access to housing, employment, health care, education, food banks, social assistance and unemployment support.” But the city doesn’t supply most of those things. Some come from the feds and some from the province, and the city has no power to contravene their rules on how they are apportioned.

The city can offer things in its remit – access to libraries and swimming pools without asking about a person’s immigration status – and I don’t think food banks turn you away if you can’t show a passport. But the city can’t give you employment insurance or health care. Quebec offers grade school and high school education to the children of asylum seekers already.