Saskatchewan ready for thousands of Ukrainian refugees

It was the first day of the new spring sitting on Monday, but the war in Ukraine was the centre of attention for much of the day in the Saskatchewan legislature.

The MLAs on both sides of the aisle spent many hours of discussion on a motion showing support for Ukraine and its people and condemning the Russian invasion, with each MLA standing up and expressing their support for the motion and its ideas.

The motion passed unanimously in the evening.

In the Assembly, MLAs wore Ukrainian flag pins and had Ukrainian flags on their desks.

After Question Period, Immigration Minister Jeremy Harrison talked about the potential of bringing in Ukrainian refugees, saying he believes Saskatchewan should be the destination of choice for refugees.

“We really feel we are uniquely positioned here in Saskatchewan to take as many refugees from Ukraine that are seeking resettlement, that we would take as many as the federal government wishes to resettle in this province,” said Harrison.

He said he has spoken with his federal counterpart and explained Saskatchewan’s stance to the minister, pointing to reasons of history and settlement success. Harrison also said there’s significant capacity, a labour market here, and integration organizations.

“We think it all just kind of adds up to the fact that we can take very, very large numbers of refugees right now,” said Harrison.

The province has already fast-tracked the fewer than 100 Ukrainians who had been in the queue for the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program.

For the vast majority of those who might come to Saskatchewan, Harrison said they’d be going through a federal government program and it would determine where people are settled. Harrison said the federal government is still working out the details.

Premier Scott Moe echoed similar sentiments, saying while the provincial government did donate $100,000 early on in the conflict, the province has now shifted to concentrate on refugees.

“We have turned much of our attention towards how do we get those Ukrainian people here, out of that area of conflict, get them to Saskatchewan where we can provide the supports … (and) whatever those supports are they’ll be provided,” said Moe.

On Tuesday, the government said it would work with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress of Saskatchewan to help Ukrainian families resettle in Saskatchewan.

The partnership, along with $335,000 in funding, will see community co-ordinators give information and assistance to individuals and groups who want to provide help, and to people from Ukraine who need assistance.

Moe has always been an advocate of domestic oil production and, as such, is supportive of sanctions against Russian oil and gas that have resulted from the Russian attack on Ukraine.

“Banning the imports of Russian oil into Canada is a good place to start; the Canadian government is moving on operationalizing that,” Moe said.

“There’s no reason for us to be bringing in oil from anywhere around the world, consequently, but in particular bringing it in from Russia making Russian oligarchs much more wealthy in doing so, and bringing in, quite frankly, dirtier oil than we produce here in Saskatchewan.”

Moe said there does need to be a balance when it comes to sanctions, making sure they have the maximum impact on Russia but a minimum impact on Canadians.

Evraz Steel operates and employs hundreds of people in Regina and has Russian oligarchs as shareholders.

Sanctions haven’t targeted Evraz yet, but Moe said with something like that, the impact would be very large here with minority shareholders.

“It’s an ownership issue as opposed to what they are doing and the product that they are producing,” said Moe.

Moe said the provincial government hasn’t looked donating any more money than the $100,000 already given, but said it’s not off the table.