Federal government to give Quebec $750 million for surge in temporary immigrants
By: Thomas Laberge
QUÉBEC (CP) – Ottawa says it will give Quebec $750 million to help pay for a surge in temporary immigrants to the province, while committing to process asylum claims more quickly and better distribute would-be refugees across the country.
Federal officials announced the details Monday as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault met in Quebec City in response to the premier’s demands that Ottawa reduce the number of temporary immigrants in the province and pay the costs linked to housing and caring for them and their children.
Legault had been asking Ottawa for $1 billion to cover costs incurred from 2021 to 2023. And while the premier received three-quarters of that sum, he still hasn’t received a firm number from Trudeau on how many asylum seekers and other temporary immigrants will be cut.
“What is urgent is to substantially and quickly reduce the number of temporary immigrants in Quebec,” Legault said. “At least the federal government is telling us they recognize there’s a problem. They even recognize that they have to act quickly in the short term in a significant way. But they refuse to give numbers.”
Legault has said the 560,000 temporary immigrants in Quebec — a number the government says has almost doubled in two years — are putting unbearable pressure on social services and threaten the future of the French language. He wants the number of people claiming asylum in the province to be cut in half.
B.C.’s Eby frustrated at Quebec immigration money ‘at the expense’ of Western Canada
WHITEHORSE, YT (CP) – Federal immigration money is being “showered down” on Ontario and Quebec “at the expense” of Western Canada, British Columbia Premier David Eby said.
Eby told a news conference to mark the end of the annual Western Premiers’ Conference on Monday that Ottawa’s offer of $750 million to Quebec to help pay for a surge in temporary residents there is frustrating, and B.C. should also get a share.
Eby said there are 10,000 people coming to British Columbia every 37 days, refugees have to stay in homeless shelters and international students don’t have support.
“And so to see a single-province agreement with Quebec, is an underlining of a sense of frustration that I heard around the table,” he said.
“I won’t put this on anyone else, but I’ll say for British Columbia, how frustrated we are to see the money being showered down on Quebec and Ontario, and us scrabbling around for what’s left over. It’s not acceptable.”
Quebec Premier François Legault had said the offer from Ottawa came after he asked for $1 billion to cover costs associated with a surge in temporary residents.
Eby said Canadians are seeing resources go to Ontario and Quebec “at the expense, in my opinion, of the West.”
“That announcement today with Quebec, frankly, is the straw that broke this camel’s back,” he said on Monday.
“I cannot understand how that could happen. I cannot understand why we cannot get a per capita share at a minimum.”
Border strike averted after union reaches tentative agreement with Ottawa
OTTAWA (CP) – Workers at Canada’s borders won’t go on strike this week, after their union reached a tentative agreement with the federal government.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada says it’s reached a deal with the government after working “around the clock.”
Its 9,000 members who work for the Canada Border Services Agency had been set to strike at 12:01 a.m. Friday if they couldn’t reach an agreement.
A similar strike three years ago nearly brought commercial border traffic to a standstill and caused major delays across the country.
The union says details of the tentative agreement will be released after they’re shared with members on Thursday.
Union members still need to vote to ratify the deal.
Families of victims of serial killer push for landfill search as trial concludes
By: Brittany Hobson
WINNIPEG (CP) – Dozens of people, many clad in red, held hands as they formed a round dance on the streets outside of Winnipeg’s law courts on the concluding day of the trial of an admitted serial killer.
At the centre of the circle, a group of women, including the sister of one of Jeremy Skibicki’s victims, stood together as they drummed and sang. The daughter of another victim carried a shovel painted red with the words Search The Land Fill drawn on it.
The families made it clear that although Skibicki’s trial has wrapped up, their fight to bring home their loved ones is not over.
“My cousin needs to come home. It’s been over two years. I don’t even know why we’re still sitting here anymore,” Melissa Robinson, cousin of Morgan Harris, told media Monday afternoon.
Skibicki, 37, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris, 39, and three other Indigenous women: Rebecca Contois, 24; Marcedes Myran, 26; and an unidentified woman an Indigenous grassroots community has named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.
His lawyers have admitted he carried out the slayings but argue he should be found not criminally responsible. A forensic psychiatrist for the defence testified Skibicki was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the killings.
RCMP, B.C. Securities Commission deliver warnings to 10 suspected ‘money mules’
By Brenna Owen
SURREY, B.C. (CP) – Criminals are recruiting people in British Columbia to act as so-called “money mules” to move their ill-gotten funds, including some who don’t fully understand what they’re doing and are also victims of a scam, provincial authorities say.
The BC Securities Commission and RCMP jointly announced Monday that investigators recently hand-delivered warning letters to 10 people in Metro Vancouver who are suspected of sending or receiving funds on behalf of criminals.
The use of the mules is a common tactic in money laundering, helping criminals move their cash by concealing its source and destination, the commission said in a statement. It identified the suspects after uncovering information indicating they had sent or received money or cryptocurrency obtained from victims of fraud.
But Sammy Wu, manager of investigations for the commission, said most of those suspects were on the “unwitting side” of what he described as a “spectrum” of awareness among many people recruited to act as money mules.
That’s why authorities decided to take the step to warn them last month, Wu said in an interview on Monday.
If people continue to move money connected to criminal activity after receiving a warning, they could be charged with criminal or regulatory offences.
Green Leader Elizabeth May says no list of disloyal MPs in full spy watchdog report
OTTAWA (CP) – Green Party’s Elizabeth May says she believes the small number of MPs named in a recent spy watchdog report did not knowingly set out to betray Canada.
May says today she is “vastly relieved” after reading an unredacted version of a report on foreign interference by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.
The intelligence watchdog said in a public report last week that some MPs wittingly assisted the efforts of foreign states to meddle in Canadian politics.
May says the full version of the report does not contain a list of MPs who have been disloyal to Canada.
May says one former MP accused in the report of proactively sharing privileged information with a foreign operative should be fully investigated by authorities.
She says that former MP is not named in the full report.
Wildfire that forced thousands from Fort Nelson, B.C., now listed as under control
FORT NELSON, B.C. (CP) – The wildfire that forced 4,700 people to leave their homes in Fort Nelson, B.C., is now listed as under control.
The BC Wildfire Service says in a social media statement that the 123-square-kilometre fire in northeastern B.C. is not expected to grow beyond its current boundary.
All evacuation alerts connected to the fire have been lifted.
The Parker Lake blaze came within a few kilometres of Fort Nelson on May 10, prompting the evacuation of most of the town.
The fire destroyed four homes and damaged several other properties.
Rain and cooler temperatures have allowed crews to reduce the wildfire, which is mainly smouldering in the ground, although the service says residents can still expect to see smoke coming from the perimeter.
Calgary mayor says residents should expect water restrictions to continue
CALGARY (CP) – Calgary’s mayor says residents should expect restrictions on their water use to last into the weekend, as workers continue work to fix a major pipeline break.
Jyoti Gondek says she commends Calgarians who have limited their daily water use until the feeder main in the city’s northwest is repaired.
The city of 1.6 million people was put under a water emergency last Wednesday, and residents have been asked to reduce their use by 25 per cent to keep reservoirs from running dry.
Gondek says residents did use slightly more water this week than they did last weekend to catch up on laundry, showers and dishes.
She says city workers need several more days to repair the pipe and to flush out and test the water before restrictions can be lifted.
Late Monday, the city lifted a boil-water advisory for the Bowness neighbourhood, where the main break happened.
The city had been bringing in large water wagons to Bowness residents, who filled up bottles, barrels and whatever else they could find with fresh water.
