Former B.C. minister Katrina Chen is “angry” with Premier Eby over his comments about foreign workers

September 8,2025

RED FM News Desk

Former B.C. cabinet minister Katrina Chen says she is “furious” about Premier David Eby’s recent call to cancel or overhaul the temporary foreign worker program. 

In posts on social media, Chen argued that Eby’s remarks reflect how governments “blame immigrants through flawed policies” while failing to adequately fund services. She added that this kind of language “fuels bias and discrimination.” 

In a now-unavailable Facebook post, Chen also described Eby’s comments as “dangerous and unacceptable.” She stressed, “What we need is reform — immigrants like me are not scapegoats.” She rejected the idea that immigrants overwhelm food banks and shelters.  Eby said B.C. could not sustain “an immigration system that fills up homeless shelters and food banks,” or one that outpaces housing and school construction, while driving up unemployment. 

His remarks have been criticized by groups such as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, UBC migration scholar Irene Bloemraad, and Filipino BC. 

Eby later clarified that while B.C. values diversity and immigration, the current system is failing and needs major reform, describing it as “a race to the bottom that hurts young people, rewards bad actors, and pits people against each other.” 

Chen, who left cabinet in 2022 to focus on recovering from past trauma linked to gender-based violence and did not run in 2024, has since co-authored a children’s book on the subject. She emphasized that criticizing Eby’s remarks “doesn’t erase the good work that has been done” but insisted that “comments like his are dangerous and unacceptable.”