Asylum seekers in Quebec: Ottawa will protect ‘fundamental rights’ [Video]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a pointed reply on Saturday to Quebec Premier François Legault’s suggestion that half of the asylum seekers already settled in Quebec should be forcibly moved to other provinces.

“We are here to work constructively while defending people’s fundamental rights,” Trudeau said in Paris at a press conference on the sidelines of the second and final day of the Francophonie Summit.

Trudeau said from the outset that he wanted to avoid focusing on “various domestic political issues” when travelling abroad.

Yet that is exactly what Legault did throughout the week during his visit to France, which began with a three-day economic mission.

He raised the idea of using France as a model for creating “waiting zones” for asylum seekers, and then forcibly moving 80,000 of them living in Quebec to other provinces — a move that earned him criticism from the opposition in Quebec City, the …