By?Obert Madondo?|?The Canadian Progressive, Feb. 25, 2013:
Jason Kenney, Canada?s Immigration Minister
Canadian refugee lawyers, advocacy groups, doctors and patients are banding together to file a lawsuit ?against the Harper government?s recent draconian cuts to health care for refugees. The group from the?Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL), ?Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care (CDRC), and three individual patients, says the?cuts violate the fundamental rights of refugees as protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The group is asking the Federal Court of Canada to declare the cuts unconstitutional and illegal.
?The cuts violate the fundamental human rights of refugees,? the group said in a statement issued Friday.??They cause unwarranted sufferings to countless individuals, and unnecessary costs to the Canadian health care system.?
The cuts were implemented through the Conservatives? Bill C-31, the so-called ?Protecting Canada?s Immigration System Act?, which passed in Parliament last June and came into effect on December 15, 2012.
The Canadian Medical Association Journal has warned that the cuts?pose?serious mental health risks for refugees. Daniel Garcia Rodriguez, a refugee applicant,?almost went blind?as a result of the cuts.?Other experts have argued that the bill will not give refugees a fair chance to tell their stories.
After the bill passed, Jewish-American political activist, Nobel laureate, writer, professor, Elie Wiesel, joined tens of thousands of Canadians who vocally condemned the cuts.
?I feel morally compelled to remain on the side of other uprooted men and women everywhere.?Today, as yesterday, a nation is judged by its attitude towards refugees,? said the?Holocaust survivor.
The majority of the refugees severely impacted are persons of color and trauma survivors, two facts Conservatives seem to be unmoved by.
Just after the bill passed, its architect and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Jason Kenney, posted a petition on his personal website?asking Canadians to thank him for a job well done.
?We, the undersigned, thank Jason Kenney for his efforts to streamline benefits afforded to refugees claimants under the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) and bring them in line with the benefits received by tax-paying Canadians, including new Canadians,? the petition said.
The House of Commons? Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security?recently?recommended?the?use of electronic ankle bracelets?on failed refugee claimants to keep a tab on their movements. The committee is?chaired by?Conservative MP Kevin Sorenson.
Last October, Kelly Block, the Conservative MP for Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, ?celebrated? Jason?s cuts with a?flyer?mailed to members of her riding.
?New arrivals to Canada have received dental and?vision care paid by your tax dollars. They?ve had free prescriptions. Not anymore,? the flyer read.
In the House of Commons, Official Opposition NDP called on Block to apologize. ?She is bragging about denying medication for kidney disease to an elderly woman or?care to a young woman who is 18 weeks pregnant due to a sexual assault,? ?said Jinny?Sims, the NDP MP for Newton-North Delta in B.C. ?This flyer is offensive and misleading.?Will the member apologize??
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Obert Madondo is the founder and publisher of The Canadian Progressive. He?s a fearless and passionate activist, progressive political blogger, writer, journalist, public speaker and publisher. He?s worked as speechwriter to Margaret Dongo, a former Independent Zimbabwean MP. He's worked as a senior international development executive with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a Germany international development agency, and with a Canadian charity. Obert is published or quoted here: The Huffington Post, CBC News, Ottawa Citizen, The Canadian Progressive, Toronto Sun, Rabble.ca, Metro News, The Charlatan, EMC Kanata, The Dominion, Ground Report, AfricaFiles & New Zimbabwe
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