New Brunswick tenants protest rent hikes and evictions

Today, April 8, tenants gathered at the New Brunswick Legislature in Fredericton to demand an eviction ban and two per cent rent cap during COVID-19. They also called for a full review of the Residential Tenancies Act where tenants and tenant advocates are key stakeholders.

The rally was organized by the New Brunswick chapter of ACORN, an organization comprised of tenants and people who live on low to middle income. The rally was also supported by the New Brunswick Coalition for Tenant Rights. According to ACORN, “having no rent control, and an easy eviction process for landlords, makes all tenants in the province housing insecure.”

ACORN’s Sarah Lunney travelled from Saint John to speak at the protest.

“The absence of tenant rights is a massive problem in New Brunswick, and we plan to make it a political problem for Higgs and his government. They can choose to deny reality, or they can face the facts that the tenant laws they inherited are woefully inadequate in protecting tenants in this rapidly changing housing market. If they choose to do nothing, we will just continue to grow,” said Lunney.

Showing their support at the rally were Drew Brown, a Fredericton mayoral candidate, Margo Sheppard, a candidate running in Fredericton’s Ward 1, New Brunswick NDP Interim Leader Chris Thompson and Green Kent North Member of the Legislative Assembly Kevin Arseneau.