The Saskatchewan government has announced that it will not accept refugee claimants under a recent federal proposal to resettle refugees across Canada.
Most of the 235,000 people are currently in Ontario and Quebec, which are struggling to cope with the sheer numbers.
The Canadian government wants all provinces to accept the contribution, but a growing number are resisting.
Saskatchewan is one of them.
“No, what we’ve said all along is that we have more regular, legal immigration than we can take in, much less accept,” Trade and Economic Development Minister Jeremy Harrison said.
“It’s something we’ve encouraged and I think has been a great benefit to the state, and we want to continue down this path.”
Under the federal government’s proposal, Saskatchewan would have a quota of about 7,000 asylum seekers, mostly from Mexico, India and Nigeria.
“I’m concerned. I’m not sure the public is going to be fully supportive of people who have applied for asylum on perhaps some spurious grounds,” Harrison added.
A growing number of provinces, including Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, are challenging the idea.
“It is unfair to asylum seekers to be deported to parts of the country that are difficult to manage,” said New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs.
Ottawa has said there are a number of avenues it can negotiate with the provincial government, and the Saskatchewan government has said it’s open to discussions but doesn’t believe Ottawa should try to make it the province’s responsibility to solve the problem.
