N.B. to seek exemption on federal immigration targets, minister says

Savannah Awde · CBC News

· Posted: May 08, 2025 4:20 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

New Brunswick volition look to negociate an exemption to national migration targets, according to its intergovernmental affairs minister, arsenic it looks to pull much newcomers from Africa. 

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Jean-Claude D'Amours, who is besides the curate liable for immigration, unveiled a program Thursday to summation the fig of francophone immigrants from six African countries implicit the adjacent 5 years. 

That plan specifically calls for much students and workers from Morocco, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Cameroon, Senegal and Tunisia. 

That's contempt the national Liberals aiming to trim the fig of impermanent workers and planetary students, and dilatory admissions for imperishable residents.

Ottawa said successful January it would cut allocations nether the Provincial Nominee Program and the Atlantic Immigration Program successful half.

On Thursday D'Amours said helium volition question an exemption to Ottawa's plan as soon arsenic the caller national furniture is sworn in. 

WATCH | 'Africa and N.B. person much successful communal than we tin imagine,' curate says

D'Amours said the "one-size-fits-all" attack to migration from Ottawa won't enactment successful New Brunswick.

"I bash recognize successful immoderate provinces the world is different, but successful New Brunswick, we volition beryllium successful request of much than 133,000 radical wrong the adjacent 10 years," helium said.

"So our world is possibly different."

But the minister also noted New Brunswick could payment from Prime Minister Mark Carney's run committedness to summation francophone migration extracurricular Quebec by 12 per cent.

"I deliberation we volition beryllium capable to person the national government, hopefully, to marque definite that we volition beryllium receiving an exception," D'Amours said. 

"Today we speech astir the francophone countries. So arsenic the lone bilingual state successful the country, we person a beauteous accidental to person the national government." 

Need to diversify trade

The francophone Africa strategy issued Thursday extends beyond migration into trade.

D'Amours said ongoing commercialized tensions with the U.S. nether President Donald Trump makes the strategy each the much important. 

"We person to modify our mode of doing business," the curate said. "We person focused excessively overmuch connected the American, and I'm not saying we volition stop, but the world is we request to look elsewhere successful the world."

The program says the six African countries were selected due to the fact that of existing relationships with New Brunswick — several already have bilateral agreements with the province.