A resident of Saint-Armand, in the Eastern Townships, whose land overlooks the American border, denounces the inaction of the authorities when a second Roxham road seems to have been erected right on his property.
Photo Martin Alarie
André Labelle thought he was living a peaceful retirement on his property in Saint-Armand, but refugees passing through ruin his plans. The abandoned vehicle can be seen behind him directly on the border between Canada and the United States.
“It’s a joke for them,” says André Labelle, who has seen at least three passages of illegal immigrants for nearly two weeks on his land.
Despite his repeated calls to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Customs and Border Protection Service – the two entities that manage the Canada-US border – no one seems to want to take the situation in hand.
The problem is that a network of smugglers seems to have noticed that a road exists in the nearby town of Highgate, Vermont, which leads almost to the residence of the recently retired science teacher.
Difficult to get agents
On September 12, the 59-year-old reported an illegal crossing that occurred in the middle of the night, when tire tracks were clearly visible on his property and tall grass had clearly been run over by a vehicle. However, the RCMP did not see fit to send officers to investigate the situation.
Two days later, voices and the headlights of a vehicle parked on the other side of the border woke Mr. Labelle in the middle of the night.
Photo Martin Alarie
Several objects, including identification papers, were visible in the abandoned car.
Shortly following, he saw a dozen people crossing his land, a mother with a stroller, in particular.
The next morning, he discovered a violin case on his lawn. When he notified the RCMP of the situation, André Labelle had to insist at length for an officer to come and inspect the case, since he was initially asked to open it himself and describe on the telephone what ‘He saw.
About a week later, André Labelle woke up to quite a surprise to find that a gray Dodge Caravan was completely stuck on the border. The two front wheels were in Canada, while the rear wheels remained in the United States. The vehicle, registered in Arizona, had been visibly abandoned at the scene in the middle of the night.
Photo Martin Alarie
The RCMP dispatched two officers during the Journal’s visit.
Inside were, among other things, toiletries in a travel case, a bag of chips, cigarette butts, several papers with personal information, such as car registrations showing the identity of the owner, and even a cell phone.
“They went by so quickly that they didn’t even see him,” said Mr. Labelle with dismay.
It returns the ball
Two RCMP officers came to assess the situation and looked briefly inside the vehicle, but did not seize anything or take fingerprints. They told the man there was nothing they might do regarding the vehicle and told him to call the Sûreté du Québec to have it declared abandoned.
For their part, the American agents advised Mr. Labelle that they would come to tow the trailer, but only following the corn harvest for his neighbor in Vermont, to avoid damaging his field.
They also advised him that three other vehicles were abandoned a few meters from his residence, on the American side.
“They throw the ball back to each other, but meanwhile there are still people spending the night, and there is a caravan on my land,” said the pensioner.
Two cameras were installed by the RCMP
Photo Martin Alarie
RCMP officers finally came to install two cameras, following several steps by Mr. Labelle.
The visit of Journal Yesterday in Saint-Armand aroused a lot of interest from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who dispatched a helicopter quickly in addition to sending two officers to the scene to question us.
Over the past few days, at the insistence of André Labelle, the police have installed two cameras on his property.
They came in handy yesterday, when an air patrol circled the pensioner’s residence extensively just minutes following the reporter and photographer arrived.
Then, a first policeman showed up on the scene, all smiles, calling out the man by his name.
“We saw you on the cameras,” he confirmed, looking proud.
Cellular
André Labelle took the opportunity to remind him of the situation by asking him to act. That’s when an agent arrived.
The two officers were rather surprised when the representative of the Journal informed them that a cell phone was in the vehicle. After checking on the phone, one of them confirmed that it was not their responsibility and that they were leaving the situation in the hands of the Americans.
Other questions were then redirected to the media department, which never responded to our interview request yesterday. Same story for Americans.
“They came quickly and without too much trouble today, huh?” “, launched André Labelle, a smile on his lips, with a touch of sarcasm.
