CCPA Manitoba recently published “Our City’s Undocumented: A Case for Access Without Fear” by two MWSN members, Karen Hamilton and Krista Johnston. From that Fast Facts:

Reports about refugees walking across the Canada-US border beginning in the spring of 2017 renewed concerns about immigration policy and undocumented migrants in Winnipeg. In fact, the vast majority of migrants to Canada enter legally, through official ports of entry, and with documentation that is presented to and checked by border officials. Although walking across an international border is irregular, those who did so in 2017 were met by RCMP or Canada Border Services Agency officials, and their status as refugee claimants was both verified and documented. In short, these migrants did not enter illegally, their status as refugee claimants is legal, they are documented and their movement in Canada is tracked by border officials. But this does not mean that they have walked into all of the rights and entitlements of full Canadian citizenship. On the contrary: their status is legal but precarious, just as is the case for many of those who enter through Canada’s temporary work, student, and other immigration avenues.

You can find the entire report here.