October 8, 2007
Tensions Grow in Strained
Canada-Mexico Relations
Frontera NorteSur
Canada
has long enjoyed a reputation among Mexicans as a friendly country that is much easier to visit than the United States, a
neighbor that strictly limits which Mexican nationals can cross the border. In
order to legally enter the United States, visa-seeking Mexicans anticipate spending long hours in line at US consular offices. Canada hosts a
growing number of Mexican migrants and tourists, while Mexico embraces large numbers of Canadian snowbirds who pass lazy winter
months in sunny Acapulco and other coastal resorts every year.
However relations between Canada and Mexico are currently experiencing
strains.
A spillover effect from the tougher enforcement of immigration laws in the United States explains at least
in part the tensions between the two countries. Last month the Canadian border city of Windsor, across from Detroit,
was swamped by 200 asylum-seeking Mexican migrants who had traveled from Florida, apparently lured under false premises by
a “religious group” that promised easy Canadian residency on the basis of refugee status. Upon arrival in Canada the migrants found themselves stranded. Declaring
that Windsor was over-burdened by an initial $200,000 hotel bill for lodging the Mexicans, Mayor Eddie Francis appealed
to his federal government for financial assistance.
The Windsor incident unfolded at a moment when Canadian border
controls are producing official complaints from the Mexican government. Mauricio
Guerrero, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Canada, recently contended that Mexican nationals arriving on Canadian territory
were increasingly mistreated. According to Guerrero, about 11,000 Mexicans have
been detained and deported from Canada since 2004. The number represents a sharp
increase from just a few years ago, when less than 800 Mexicans were deported from Canada during each of the years 2002 and
2003.
“The majority of Mexicans who are detained when they arrive in Canada are treated in an unacceptable manner,”
Guerrero said. “They are handcuffed, and sometimes deprived of sanitary services or medicine.” Charging that Mexicans
spend various days in detention before being deported, Guerrero added that Mexico City has filed multiple complaints about
the treatment of its citizens with the Canadian government. “This is a
matter that could affect the relations between the two countries,” he said.
On the flip side of the coin, Mexico's
image among Canadian tourists and part-time residents has suffered recent blows, especially in Acapulco, where snowbirds infuse
much-needed cash into the economy. Last winter, calls for a tourist boycott reverberated
in Canada after the suspicious death of 19-year-old Canadian citizen Adamo Prisco outside an Acapulco discotheque prompted
accusations of a police cover-up. At the same time, Canadian part-time residents
of Acapulco launched protests against the chaotic, hazardous traffic that roars along the city's Costera main drag like a
massive try-out for the Indy 500.
“Every time we cross the street we put our lives in danger, especially invalids
and older adults,” said Canadian tourist Emilio Parziale. A 77-year-old
Canadian woman, Sara Morabia, was run over by a taxi last February. Outbreaks of narco-violence and dengue fever in
resort towns like Acapulco have also fanned negative publicity about Mexico in Canada.
Tourism and immigration-related
tensions haven't dampened commercial ties between Canada and Mexico. Quebec Foreign
Minister Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, for example, recently announced a series of business agreements that expand Canadian participation
in the alternative energy, environmental services, construction and information technology sectors.
The $20 million-dollar
Quebec-Mexico accord encompasses projects in Acapulco, Ciudad Juarez, Cancun, and Monterrey.
In Acapulco, a Canadian firm was selected to work on cleaning the city's long-polluted bay. Quebec official Gagnon-Tremblay also revealed that 25 Canadian companies were scheduled to travel on a
trade mission to the northern Mexican border state of Nuevo Leon. She added that
Mexico is Quebec's largest Latin American trading partner.
Sources:
El Diario de El Paso/Notimex/El Universal, September 20 and 22, 2007. El Sur, January 22, 23 and 27, 2007; February
11 and September 24, 2007. Articles by Xavier Rosado, Aurora Harrison, Maximo Kuri, editorial staff, and the Reforma news
agency.
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Frontera NorteSur (FNS)
Center
for Latin American and Border States
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
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(Reprinted with authorization from Frontera NorteSur, a free,
on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news source. FNS can be found at http://frontera.nmsu.edu/)
Translation FNS
