The Bloc Quebecois, supported by Conservative and NDP MPs, wants launch an inquiry into the use of public funds to build facilities near Roxham Road.

This crossing in the Montérégie region of Quebec south of Montreal is used by many migrants to enter Canada illegally to seek asylum.

Radio-Canada recently revealed that Ottawa paid out more than half a billion dollars in public funds to reimburse Quebec costs or to pay suppliers.

This money was used to rent land and hotels and install trailers.

The public broadcaster noted that it has been impossible to know the value of all the contracts Ottawa awarded because the government is hiding behind confidentiality requirements.

"We are concerned about the impact these revelations may have on the public and the trust the public is obliged to place in the government," reads a letter sent to the chair of the parliamentary access to information committee, Pat Kelly, calling for the emergency meeting to be held Monday afternoon.

The letter is co-signed by Bloc Québécois MP René Villemure, Conservatives James Bezan, Ryan Williams and Damien Kurek, and New Democrat Matthew Green.

The MPs want the Access to Information Committee to conduct its study on Roxham Road expenditures during at least six caucus meetings.

They are also pushing to call several witnesses, such as Immigration and Public Safety Ministers Sean Fraser and Marco Mendicino.

The Bloc and New Democrats have long called for the suspension of the Safe Third Country Agreement, which is at the heart of irregular crossings through Roxham Road.

This agreement ensures that a potential refugee who arrives at an official Canadian border crossing and has first set foot on U.S. soil is turned away, as he or she must pursue a refugee claim in the first "safe haven" he or she arrived in.

Thus, some people who still want to claim asylum in Canada cross the Canada-U.S. border through makeshift crossings, such as Roxham Road in Quebec. Once they are in Canada, their asylum claims can be processed.

The Conservatives, on the other hand, want the Safe Third Country Agreement to be applied uniformly along the entire border, regardless of whether the person is an official port of entry.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 3, 2022.