Claims from New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs that Ottawa wants to force the province to take in 4,600 asylum seekers are “largely fictitious,” says federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
During a speech Wednesday in Moncton, N.B., Higgs said provincial officials were invited to a recent conference call with federal officials who said Ottawa was considering a plan to send asylum seekers to the province without providing financial assistance.
“This sudden and unilateral proposal by Ottawa is deeply concerning, and I feel obligated to share the challenges it will bring to our province,” he said in a video posted to X, adding that the province is currently home to less that 400 asylum seekers.
Higgs also posted a message saying New Brunswick is a welcoming province, but he said accepting so many newcomers would stretch the province’s health care, education and housing resources.
“(W)e do not have enough housing to make sure both newcomers and people currently living in N.B. have a roof over their heads,” the message said. “We are calling on the Liberal government to drop this plan, and instead deal with the backlog of asylum claims that their failed policies have created.”
Get breaking National news
Speaking after a Liberal caucus meeting Wednesday in British Columbia, Miller challenged Higgs’s remarks, saying they were “highly irresponsible.”
“The allegations by Premier Higgs are largely fictitious,” Miller said. “We at no time have said that we would impose asylum seekers on provinces without financial compensation.”
He said federal and provincial officials had met during the summer to discuss federal funding and responsibilities for distributing asylum seekers across the country.
“In order to move forward, we have to put numbers on the table on what aspirational numbers would look like,” Miller said.
The minister said the numbers in question were based on models reflecting each provinces’ population. He said smaller provinces have a responsibility to take in more asylum seekers to lower the pressure on Ontario and Quebec.
But he said this does not mean New Brunswick would be forced to take in 4,600 asylum seekers.
Miller went on to suggest that New Brunswick ministers had indicated the province didn’t want to admit any asylum seekers, regardless of federal compensation. And he confirmed that some other provinces were also opposed to letting them in.
“We would expect the provinces like New Brunswick to do its part, but the last thing we want to see done is for this to be politicized,” Miller said.
At a news conference on Thursday, Higgs shared a federal document showing the province’s proposed share of asylum seekers, not including those already in the province, could be 4,568.
“Minister Miller has put this information out and basically without the supporting documentation of how it’s going to work,” the Progressive Conservative premier said.
“Maybe he needs to take it back to the drawing board … and do the assessment of, are these genuine asylum seekers, or are they not?”
New Brunswick Liberal Leader Susan Holt accused Higgs of manufacturing a distraction.
“Premier Higgs is once again being reckless and exaggerating the facts while trying to create division and fear about this news on potential asylum seekers,” she said in a statement.
“Every one of these distractions allows Higgs to get off the hook from the crisis in health care and affordability while playing politics with the lives of vulnerable people.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Comments