immigration Minister Mark Miller is defending new funding for Quebec Ottawa will give the province $750 million to help with the cost of managing Asylum Seekers both in the past and now but BC Premier David eie says some of that money should go to Western provinces I’ll say for British Columbia how frustrated we are to see the money being showered down on Quebec and on Tero uh and uh us scrabbling around for what’s left over it’s not acceptable it is not okay earlier I spoke to minister Miller about that funding and ottawa’s program to try and get extended family members of Canadians out of Gaza Minister Miller thank you for joining us thank you for having me on Rosemary want to start with sort of the news of the week and that is the federal government’s pledge of $750 million to help Quebec deal with Asylum Seekers I think that’s over a two-year period um sort of like a repayment I think Premier had asked for a billion dollars um maybe you can just explain to us why this amount of money was so much money was given to Quebec to address the concerns of the premere it’s really as you described it Rosemary Quebec has taken on a disproportionate number of Asylum Seekers particularly over the last two years there’s cumulative effects of Prior years as well but it it’s come with clear expenses that uh Quebec frankly shouldn’t have to pay they have a responsibility to take on Asylum Seekers just like other provinces but it it has added up uh and over the course of pretty good working sessions with our partners in Quebec uh we agreed on on a number of 750 million to compensate them precisely for um the disproportionate burden of Asylum Seekers that they’ve been taking on as Ontario has as well it comes with other commitments that over the course of relationship with Quebec we’ve seen it important for the federal government to step up notably in renewing of uh of work permits to make sure that people have a level of French that’s fair in a nation like Quebec um so a number of other concrete steps that we agreed to make sure that we are working with Quebec Quebec’s assuming its place in the Federation to make sure that when it comes to Asylum Seekers uh we are doing right by each other and each you know assuming the responsibility in our own jurisdictions a as you well know this um sort of raised the ey I think that’s fair to say of uh Premier David eie in British Colombia uh he says that immigration money is being showered down Ontario and Quebec at the expense of western Canada and that’s Western provinces should also get some help dealing with um immigration issues what is your response to that claim by the premere uh a bit surprising in the context perhaps not in the Electoral context that he is in uh but it is something that you know if they are willing to take on more Asylum Seekers and assume the role as a proportion of the population that they should be playing with respect to the to the to to the housing of Asylum Seekers they they should and there are a number of working tables that we have created in order to affect that and I’ve gotten very good signs and have always had a very good working relationship with Premier AB on on a number of issues including in my prior role and indeed he’s been a very thoughtful person uh less so this time but I I think the message is this uh we’re all in the same boat uh the Asylum Seeker flow is not going away anytime soon despite best efforts uh but and it’s something that all provinces need to step up on particularly when it comes towards a proportion of the population uh Alberta and and British Columbia but it would not come without financial compensation in the programs that we have put forward over the last two years BC has in fact not asked for any money and so that’s a discussion that we need to have and and probably not in the public sphere sure I mean he he does make the point in his statement that he put out after this that the his population is growing very quickly more than 10,000 people every 37 days so uh he is I I guess struggling to take on a huge immigration flow which which can include Asylum Seekers or not um and I guess is asking the question about how much of that burden he is expected to carry Al loone yeah and fair enough I think to the extent it isn’t connected to the issue that he was uh targeting BC has seen a climb particularly in temporary residents particularly in the topic that has uh been quite public over the last few months International students that is something that they have a significant amount in regulating their designated learning institutions over and control over and that’s something that we’ve signaled quite clearly that we need to reign in collectively as a country uh BC and Ontario being the primary ones that that really need to get a grip on these programs we’re going to continue working on that and there’s particularly when it comes to BC I’ve seen very encouraging signs as to what they the place they want to see their designated learning institutions tend towards in making sure that students are properly welcomed here when they come from abroad uh in the numbers that make it fair for uh for the economy and all the needs that they have in British Columbia so I’m pretty hopeful about that but it’s going to take a lot more work than just talking about it in in public I I want to talk to you about the um the situation in Gaza and the temporary Residency program to try and get Palestinians who have family members in Canada out of Gaza maybe you can just start by updating us on how many Palestinians have made it to Canada through that program or how many are in the process of applying sort of any sort of uh status you can give us on that yeah so so listeners will know that we increased the program to to 5,000 very recently uh we have several thousand in the application process uh to the extent we have been able or people have been able to get out notably through the Rafa Crossing there are about six about 600 visas that have been then issued uh with with a portion of those people that have made it to Canada uh admitted it looks like a trickle this is not the program uh that uh or this the level of success that we would hoped with this program I wouldn’t say not through fault or effort on behalf of Canada in fact we’ve deployed significant effort to be able to get people out and into Canada but we would have wished for more at this period particularly given the devastating reality of of of life in Gaza uh the best way to make this program a success is to have a ceasefire to have hostages released so that we can have a regularized program where we could keep people here temporarily well we look at what post governance Gaza looks like uh I just spoke to the Egyptian Ambassador uh have gotten written assurances from their Department of Foreign Affairs their Minister the minister thems that they’ll be helping us with this program a lot of these people will be temporarily um in Egypt that puts an extra pressure on Egypt which has a huge number of Asylum Seekers from a number of countries uh so the pieces of the puzzle are in place uh but the fact that rafic Crossing is closed uh is something that is inescapable and it Canada does not control that as you know well yeah it doesn’t obviously take away from the frustration that that Palestinian Canadians are feeling um even though you you were forthcoming uh with h how much you would be able to help with this but we’ve spoken to Palestinian Canadians who have paid as you know tens of thousands of dollars um to get their family members out of Gaza um sometimes they pay the money and they only get one or two people out um they are taking on personal debt to do that and I wonder is there nothing that the government could do on that front loans for instance programs that would allow these people to get some financial help to try and get their families out given that you have limitations on what you can do well we certainly are providing supports uh when people get here this is a program that was based on sponsorship family sponsorship uh it was not designed and or put in place to reflect the fact that people would have to bribe and play exorbitant sums for people to get out of Rafa that’s the reality on the ground Spen directly to a number of families that in some in one case paid over 100,000 I don’t think you’ll find a situation where the government of Canada will entirely compensate people for uh the bribes that they paid to third parties of of dubious description but it is of immense frustration I will not put myself in the place of those families but we will work even harder to make sure that people when they are safe do get to Canada if they pass all the all the security clearances uh and then look at supporting them when they get to Canada whether it’s work permits uh whether it’s interim health benefits or other Settlement Services that they are entitled to this is a somewhat comprehensive program compared to what you may look at in other countries uh it’s something that when uh we do have those numbers and when the people do come to Canada we can look back hopefully with some element of Pride but at this point uh there’s no joy in anything that’s going on but we’re doing our best to get people out Minister Miller thank you for making the time appreciate it thank you Rosemary
B.C. Premier David Eby has criticized the federal government for giving Quebec $750 million in asylum seeker funding. But Immigration Minister Marc Miller told Rosemary Barton that Quebec has taken on a disproportionate burden of asylum seekers — and if B.C. is willing to take in more of them, it should get more funding too.
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