Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Winnipeg MP Jim Carr were in Emerson Saturday morning to announce funding to support of the community of Emerson in its efforts to deal with the migrant situation at the border.

The influx of people walking into town seeking refugee status has put significant pressure on its emergency volunteers.

Goodale says his visit to Emerson was an opportunity to do two things. One was to say thanks to the residents, volunteers, administrators and first responders of the community for the generous way in which they have handled a very extraordinary situation.

"The reaction of the community has been truly inspiring and I really want to say on behalf of the Prime Minister, the government of Canada and all Canadians that you have represented the very best instincts and values of Canadians in responding to a situation that is larger that we have seen in the last number of years. The way the community has reacted is a fine example of Canada."

Goodale announced that Emerson would receive $30,000 from the federal government to deal with the unexpected expenses of dealing with asylum seekers. In fact, the town had already used about one-third of its operating budget in responding to the situation.

"When 911 is called, very often it is the local volunteer firefighters who get the call. They have a modest budget for dealing with their normal responsibilities in the community and have indicated that the extra responsibilities in responding to the migrants have taxed their local resources quite severely. We want to make sure that their out of pocket incremental costs are properly recognized, so we will be making that contribution to the local fire fighters."

Greg Janzen, the reeve for the municipality of Emerson-Franklin, was pleased with the financial response from the federal government.

ralph goodale emersonvisit2 2017
 He adds, minister Goodale has assured him the financial support has not been capped and that it will continue based on expenses incurred from the flow of refugees.

"The communication that we've had as a municipality with all the officials in Ottawa and Mr. Goodale and Mr. Carr has been very open and I'm very confident that we will work through this all together," said Janzen.

At this point, no extra resources have been earmarked for RCMP and CBSA as those agencies are able to reallocate resources internally, according to Goodale.