Misleading social media messages entice Haitian asylum seekers to come to Canada

Many of the thousands of Haitian nationals streaming across Canada's border from the U.S. may be basing their decision to flee on misleading and false information posted toWhatsApp,Facebookgroups and other social media.

Encouraged by those ambiguous ordeceptive posts, many of the50,000 to 60,000 Haitians living with temporary protected status (TPS) in the U.S. could be interpreting Canada'swelcoming attitude towards immigrants as a clarion call.

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In May, President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw the protectedstatus of Haitians who took refuge in the country following the 2010 earthquake.

With the TPS set to expire in January 2018,Haitian nationals now fear being sent back to Haiti.

'Canadian consulate' meeting that never was

In the wake of Trump's announcement, one New York immigration lawyer,MacxL. Jean-Louis,organized a presentation for the Haitian community at a church inNew Jersey in June, inviting Toronto lawyer Veronica Wilson to explain how the Canadian immigration system works.

She said sheexplained the point system to them, saying skilled workers had a leg up and that many might be able to qualify as immigrants because they could speak French.

She said there was no discussion of crossing into Canada outside ports of entry at the meeting.

"The church was packed," Wilson told CBC News."People were standing in the aisles, and everyone had their phones video recording us, and at the end there was a lineup of questions."

Wilson hasbeen helping Haitian nationals make applications to come to Canada. She says when they enterthe border unofficially, "it's out of fear," and that it's possible they don't realize "there may be legal avenues for them."

Right after that June 17 meeting, aWhatsAppmessage began circulating.

"The Consul of Canada in the USA held a meeting in New Jersey for more than two hours," it states. "It invited and even encouraged all Haitians (with or without TPS) to apply for residency in Canada."

The message goes on to give the name and an incorrectcontact numberfor Jean-Louis, the New York lawyer who organized the information meeting with Wilson. It also states that the Canadian government will cover any "fees."

'Fake news'

The day after thatWhatsAppmessage went out, Jean-Louis says, he received 264 calls.

He's been flooded with calls ever since, coming from Haitian nationals in the Dominican Republic, Chile, Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America.

All had received the erroneousWhatsAppmessage or saw a video of the meeting onYoutubewhich wasmislabelledas having taken place at Canada's consular headquarters in New Jersey.

Jean-Louis doesn't know where theWhatsAppmessage originated, but "my understanding is that ... the person lives in Montreal, Canada."

"He was not even there at the meeting, but he put out the fake news," Jean-Louis said.

The Toronto lawyer, Veronica Wilson, has also been fielding calls from people who have clearly received the same information, because she's been mistaken for Canadian consular staff.

She said one of the people who called her in the wake of the meeting, "was speaking to me as if I was a Canadian official, and I had to clearly state, that no [I was not]."

This video of the June 17 information meeting ismislabelledin Creole as a Canadian consular meeting:

Portraying Canada as a haven

Other questionable social media messages have originated with the Haitian Diaspora Organization in Miami, a group with 11,000Facebookfollowers and as many as 5,000WhatsAppmembers in its network.

Its executive director, JudeMetellus, said he launched a social media campaign to encourage Haitian nationalswith no other optionto try crossing the Canadian border outside of the established checkpoints.

He said he started the campaign after he readPrime Minister JustinTrudeau'sresponse to Trump's moveto ban immigration from Muslim countries.

"Canadians have been very clear that we see immigration as a net positive,"Trudeausaid.

• Trudeautouts open Canadian immigration system in face of Trump travel ban

"Right now, Canada is a haven,"Metellustold CBC News."That'swhat we've been portraying to them."

He said he tells those willing to make the trip that the fastest and "best" way into Canada "is to literally drive up to the border and just say that they are requesting asylum."

Metellussaid his organization hasn't guaranteedHaitians they'llbe granted asylum once they're in Canada.

It's a risk most are willing to take, he said.

"When a Haitian who escaped Haiti because of poverty I mean literally because they are eating dirt and they've had a chance to come into the United States, to go into Canada is a desperate move," saidMetellus.

'They have to give hope'

"The message they're getting [on social media] is that Canada is ready to lay down the red carpet, as if we were Syrian, and that they would be welcomed," said Jean-Ernest Pierre, the director of Montreal's Haitian community radio stationCPAM.

He saidthere's no evidence of malicious intent behind themisleading social media campaign.

He believes the false information is circulated by people who "feel they have to give hope ... but it's completely false that Canada is ready to receive all these people."

MarjorieVillefranche,director general oftheMaisond'Haiti, a hub for the Haitian communityin Montreal, says it's also a word-of-mouth affair between friends and families sharing successful stories of crossing atRoxhamRoad, where they are greeted with respect byRCMPofficers.

"They hope the moment they cross the border and they arrive here, they will have the permanent resident visa and it isnot true,"Villefranchesays.

"It's not paradise.You have to go through a very complicated process, and it won't be easy."

Still,Villefranchesays, the kind welcome Haitian asylum seekers are getting as they cross into Canada shouldn't change.

"When people arrive in a difficult situation, this is our way to do it," she said. "Why change what we are?"