No state of emergency exists and none existed when St Stephen Council declared one on December 4th, that according to the Minister of Public Safety.

In a letter to Mayor Allan MacEachern on Wednesday night, Kris Austin revoked the local state of emergency.

He says it is his responsibility to invoke emergency powers only when absolutely necessary to respond to a problem which cannot be resolved by any other means.

At an emergency council meeting in St Stephen on Monday, Mayor MacEachern  declared the state of emergency as a result of the death of a man over the weekend in the park.

It stated there was a “lack of response” by the New Brunswick government for the homelessness crisis.