N.S. premier to challenge federal plan to send thousands of asylum seekers to province

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston is pushing against a federal government proposal that would more proportionately distribute the number of asylum seekers across Canada.

According to numbers shared with CTV News, the federal government is asking Nova Scotia to take 6,131 refugee asylum seekers. Currently, the province has around 397 open claims, which would mean an increase of 5,734.

Houston told reporters Nova Scotia lacks the capacity to accept such a large number and asks the federal government to back off and respect the province’s “deliberate plan.”

“As a province we have a plan for population growth,” said Houston. “On the immigration side of that, with people moving from other countries, we’re focused on health-care workers and we’re focused on the skilled trades.”

Houston pointed to the rapid population growth of Nova Scotia already and alluded to the growing pressure on the available housing stock and accessing services like health care and family doctors. He emphasized Nova Scotia could not handle nearly 6,000 asylum claimants.

Ontario and Quebec together have accepted 62 per cent of all federal asylum seekers and both provinces have signalled they need help from the federal government and other provinces to take a greater percentage of would-be refugees.

Houston said Nova Scotians are caring, compassionate people, but the capacity is just not there.

“We will not be taken advantage of by the federal government,” said Houston.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.