Supposedly new regulations would also have cut off health care to refugees, and the refugee industry went nuts. So the government backtracked and wants to make it clear that asylum seekers (really aliens who got into Canada illegally or came on a visa of some sort and now claim they will be persecuted if returned to their home country) will not have the benefits of Canada’s SOCIALIZED medicine, but proper refugees will. Why? Canada can’t afford to do it!
In the meantime, the US is extending Obamacare to refugees and presumably asylees as well as we reported, here, a couple of days ago.
Here is the story from The Star:
Ottawa has backed down on its health-care cuts for resettled refugees on income support, but other asylum seekers are still not immune from the axe.
The federal government quietly amended information about the changes on its website late Friday, just before the cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) kicked in on the weekend.
As a result, impoverished refugees resettled to Canada through government and private sponsorships can still access hospital services, diagnostic and ambulance services, as well as supplementary health support such as wheelchairs, dental and vision care — equivalent to what is available to low-income Canadians.
Critics who fought staunchly against the cuts said Ottawa’s flip-flop indicates the government’s recognition of vulnerable refugees’ health-care needs.
Alexis Pavlich, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, said the minister has “repeatedly” stated that government-sponsored refugees would continue to receive health care.
“The original criteria did not make this intention clear, which is why the language of the policy has been modified,” she said in an email to the Star.
“Our intention was to ensure that those who come to Canada as asylum seekers from abroad do not receive better health-care coverage than Canadians. Our intention was never to have this policy impact government-sponsored refugees.”
However, critics said the last-minute reprieve is not good enough and many are still denied basic health care, including those who come from Ottawa’s yet-to-defined “safe countries” — likely including Mexico, Hungary and Czech Republic — and failed refugee claimants awaiting appeals and deportation.
Imagine that—a “refugee” from Mexico gets all the way to Canada and is denied dental care! What is this mean old world coming to?