Former B.C. cabinet minister Katrina Chen says she is "furious" about calls by Premier David Eby to cancel or reform the temporary foreign worker program.
Chen said on social media platform X that Eby's comments last week were an example of how the government "points fingers at immigrants through flawed policies" after underfunding services.
"This fuels bias and discrimination," she said.
In a more-extensive post on Facebook, Chen had added that Eby's comments were "dangerous and unacceptable," but the post can no longer be seen.
She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chen was minister of state for children until 2022 and served as co-chair of Eby's NDP leadership campaign.
"What we need is reform -- immigrants like me aren't government's scapegoats," she had said on both social media platforms.
She added on Facebook: "It's untrue that we fill up shelters and food banks."
Eby said last week that the temporary foreign worker program should "be cancelled or significantly reformed," a day after federal Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre had also called for it to be shut down.
"We can't have an immigration system that fills up our homeless shelters and our food banks," Eby said Thursday.
"We can't have an immigration system that outpaces our ability to build schools, and housing, and we can't have an immigration program that results in high unemployment."
The comments have since drawn criticism from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, UBC migration scholar Irene Bloemraad, and advocacy group Filipino BC.
Eby later expanded on his remarks, saying B.C. needed the diversity that has seen the province welcome people from around the world, while calling for reforms to a system that is not working well for anyone.
"Our system right now is a race to the bottom that hurts our young people, rewards bad actors, and pits people against each other," he said on social media. "We can do better."
The B.C. Greens issued a statement on Monday calling Eby's comments last week "divisive" and "reckless."
Interim leader Jeremy Valeriote said temporary workers should not be blamed for a program "rife" with fraud and abuse. "Companies and corporations who have abused it need to be held accountable, not the migrants accessing it," he said.
Rob Botterell, Green MLA for Saanich North and Islands, said it was "unfair" to blame migrants who supported British Columbia's economy by helping fill "critical labour shortages in agriculture, hospitality, and food service for years."
Chen quit cabinet in 2022 to deal with what she called "long-standing trauma" suffered as a result of gender-based violence, including when she was a child, and did not seek re-election in 2024.
She has since co-written and published a children's book about gender-based violence.
She said of her post on Facebook that it "doesn't erase the good work that has been done, but it's important to recognize comments like (Eby's) are dangerous and unacceptable."
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
