Government backs down on Interim Federal Health Program cuts for one refugee group only-Doctors will not compromise on health coverage for all refugees

 

Toronto, July 3, 2012-Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care is grateful that the Government has backed down on cuts to health coverage for one refugee group- Government Assisted Refugees.   Doctors expect the same coverage for all other refugee groups.

On Friday June 29th, the day before the cuts went into effect, Minister Jason Kenney stated that the Government Assisted Refugees would not be affected by the cuts to their health coverage.  The Citizenship and Immigration Canada website was changed on Friday afternoon to confirm that the government had indeed backed down on cuts for Government Assisted Refugees but for no other refugee group.

Such a reversal indicates that the government acknowledges the need for access to medications, prosthetics, emergency dental and vision services and other essential health services for refugees.  The federal government has finally agreed with health care workers, as a matter of equity, that refugees deserve the same health coverage as other low income Canadians-no more, no less.
Despite this reversal, many other refugees will still be denied access to basic health services.  Dr. Philip Berger of St. Michael’s Hospital states that “most concerning is that refugees who come from what the government deems to be ‘safe countries’, will be denied the most basic health coverage.  These refugees will be denied care for serious conditions such as heart attacks, other medical emergencies and all chronic diseases.  Pregnant refugee women and their babies will be denied care.  The government needs to rescind the IFH changes so that all refugees have access to basic health care.”
Dr. Megan Williams, from Somerset Community West Community Health Centre, stated that “the vast majority of refugees who are sponsored by church groups and other citizens will lose access to life saving medications.  Many of these refugees come from refugee camps and have endured war and other forms of violence.  Imposing these cuts is inhumane for refugees and unfair to the church groups and other citizens who have sponsored these refugees in good faith.”
Dr. Meb Rashid of Women’s College Hospital states that “the physician advocacy campaign against these cuts will continue until the government rescinds the cuts for all refugees.  Over a dozen national organizations, representing a breath of health care workers have condemned these cuts.  Health care workers have organized across the country and have developed a surveillance system to document the effects of these cuts.  We will publicize these cases so that the government, media and other Canadians know the consequences of the government’s policy.”
The government’s concession for Government Assisted Refugees is too little and too late.  Many other refugees will suffer because of the cuts that are still in place.  Doctors and other health care workers expect that the government will rescind its plan to cut health care coverage for all refugees.

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For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:
Dr. Megan Williams    613-816-0850               mwilliam@swchc.on.ca
Dr. Philip Berger          416-802-1191              bergerp@smh.ca
Dr. Meb Rashid            416-315-1270               mebrashid@hotmail.com

 

June 18th National Day of Action against cuts to refugee health care

In April 2012, the federal government announced drastic cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) – a Citizenship and Immigration Canada funded program that provides health coverage to refugees, refugee claimants, and others. The reductions are due to come into effect on June 30th, 2012, and in response organizations across the country are sounding the alarm. Health care workers and refugee rights advocates from Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Kitchener, Windsor, Hamilton, Ottawa, Montreal, St. John’s, and Halifax will be standing up in solidarity against the IFHP cuts on June 18th, 2012. The Halifax demonstration will be held at noon on Grand Parade Square.

Present in the growing and diverse list of organizations demanding the federal government revise or rescind the cuts are the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Canadian Association of Social Workers, the Canadian Dental Association, the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Nurses Association, the Canadian Pharmacists Association, Canadian Doctors for Medicare, the Canadian Council for Refugees, and the Canadian Association of Community Health Centres.

Jane Moloney, Chair of the Canadian Association of Community Health Centres and Executive Director of the North End Community Health Centre declares that “cutting the IFHP is unethical, ill-informed and it raises new threats to health and healthcare for everyone residing in Canada”. For example, the cuts will deny coverage for essential medications to refugees our government resettles and welcomes into Canada. Refugees who have been resettled to Halifax have spent an average of 17 years in camps and often arrive with complex health problems and a vital need for comprehensive health coverage – coverage that must include prescription medications. Not only are these cuts irresponsible, but they are hypocritical to the core.

Dr. M. Rashid, Medical Director of the Crossroads Clinic at Women’s College Hospital, a clinic that serves newly arrived refugees in Toronto, states that “(a)lmost universally, [refugees] will not be in a position to purchase their medications. As of June 30th, most will stop taking their medications. This last week alone, I have sat with a mother in tears because she will no longer be able to purchase anti-seizure medication for her child with epilepsy. I have spoken to women with diabetes who will no longer be able to purchase their insulin.”

The Canadian Association of Community Health Centres issued a severe Medicare alert on May 15, 2012, and cautions that “(t)he fallout from the poorly-conceived policy will also place major new burdens on provincial health systems and all Canadians who, collectively, will be forced to shoulder the financial and health services impact.” Jane Moloney further explains that “(t)hese families will still arrive in our Community Health Centres, in our hospital emergency rooms, at our local public health units and other health services; except now, instead of receiving routine preventive care and support, they will be presenting with more acute, complex illnesses, requiring vastly more provincial and local health dollars to be tapped. Cutting the IFHP means a trickle of savings for the federal government’s bottom-line, but it will amount to exponentially greater financial and health service losses for provinces and municipalities, and for all Canadians, since we all rely on these services. This is a disastrous economic game for the federal government to be playing. . .”

Dr. M. Rashid remarks that “(r)efugee women from designated countries of origin will no longer have access to any care – none; no prenatal care, intrapartum care or post-natal care. They will not have access to “urgent or essential” care nor to contraception advice. . .” This drastic situation will have another severe effect in Nova Scotia. As Gillian Zubizarreta, Settlement Coordinator at the Halifax Refugee Clinic points out, “(b)abies born in Nova Scotia to refugee claimant parents are denied provincial health coverage due to the status of the parents. Currently, the baby falls under the mother’s IFH coverage. As a result we will have babies in our province who will be refused basic health care. This is in direct contravention to the Canada Health Act, to the rights of these babies, and will surely have detrimental effects on their health.”

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More information is available at: www.doctorsforrefugeecare.ca

Media and other inquiries:

Jane Moloney, PhD

Executive Director

North End Community Health Centre

(902) 422 5642 x1

jmoloney@nechc.com

Chair, Canadian Association of Community Health Centres www.cachc.ca

Justice for All … Refugee Clinic honoured for outstanding work

May 30, HALIFAX – The Halifax Refugee Clinic received the Legal Information Society’s Honourable Lorne Clarke, Q.C. Access to Justice Award for its outstanding work in promoting access to justice for refugees. The Clinic, through a dedicated group of volunteers, provides refugee claimants with invaluable advice and assistance as they face the daunting task of moving through the refugee application process.
The dedication of a small staff and committed group of volunteers has resulted in a positive decision rate of nearly double the national average with almost an 83% success rate compared to the national average of 47%. The Clinic also helps refugees deal with work permits, housing, budgeting, English language skills and access to health care and psychological support.
In accepting the award on behalf of the Clinic, founding member and lawyer Lee Cohen said “receiving the award is public recognition that the Clinic is fulfilling its purpose and doing it well.” The award has special meaning for him because it is named after Lorne Clarke, he added: “I have greatly admired Lorne Clarke’s wisdom and kindness as a jurist since my first case before him in the 1980s. That experience influenced my own career in law.”
The LISNS Awards Committee members said they were impressed with the staff and volunteers’ passion for the program and their commitment to help some of the most vulnerable people in society. Many lawyers volunteer time to ensure that refugee claimants have access to legal services and to mentor law students.
“These volunteers are vital to the work of the Clinic,” says Julie Chamagne, the Clinic’s Executive Director, “We rely on the commitment and passion of our volunteers. The lawyers are all busy people with busy practices but they find the time to devote tens of thousands of dollars in time and expertise to the Clinic.”
The law is a powerful and often frightening instrument even for people born in Canada,” says Maria Franks, LISNS Executive Director, “For refugee claimants fleeing strife and often in fear for their and their family’s lives, the law and the legal system is even more frightening and alien. The Refugee Clinic is a shining example of an organization working to improve access to justice for this vulnerable population and embodies the spirit behind the LISNS Access to Justice Award.”
The award is named in honour of Lorne Clarke, Q.C., former Chief Justice of Nova Scotia and past LISNS board member. Former Chief Justice Clarke has long been a supporter of the work of LISNS, continuing legal education and access to justice.
LISNS has been helping people find answers to their legal problems and questions for almost 30 years. For more information, please visitwww.legalinfo.org.

Profile of the Month

The volunteer for the month of October is Hilario C. Lamotte! Read why Hilario chose to volunteer with the Halifax Refugee Clinic.
1. Why do you choose to Volunteer at the Halifax Refugee Clinic?
In my opinion, being a volunteer is already  a motive to be proud, because as the rest of the volunteers I like serving the community, and the Halifax Refugee Clinic gives me the chance to help refugees as well as newcomers to Canada. I am having a good time helping people.
The first example of volunteerism I found in Canada was at the Halifax Refugee Clinic where I came asking for help as a refugee. The Halifax Refugee Clinic shows me how to be unselfish, without any intention of looking for recognition or gratitude for my actions, shows me to look for a chance for the better in other newcomer’s situations when they arrive in Canada.
2. What is your favorite part of volunteering?
I enjoy having the possibility of sharing my skills to help people and at the same time when I am receiving their permission to being helped by me as part of our group of volunteers.

3. What do you LOVE about Halifax?
Halifax is a coastal city and has a big harbour, which remains me my natal city. Halifax also acts as a mother who is ready at all times to receive and consider new visitors as adopted children.

4. If you could choose one word to describe your volunteer position?
Joy.

5. Who inspires you in your life?
Just a simple philosophy, where the knowledge is a gift that is not an individual luxury and is a shared responsibility to be shared with people in need.

Hilario C Lamotte


HRC in the Community

The Halifax Refugee Clinic was recently profiled by the Presbyterian Record. Here is the write up, following which you can find the link to the original story.

Welcome, Neighbour!

An invitation extended and a friendship made.
by Kenneth Stright

It’s always nice to greet the new neighbour who moves in almost next door. When you are a church and it is an organization that has just moved in, it is a little harder. When that organization is the Halifax Refugee Clinic, all kinds of things are possible. For us at the Church of St. David, Halifax, all it took was a church member dropping in to say, “hi!” and “what is it exactly that you do here?” and the relationship was off and running.

When that church member is also part of the mission and outreach committee even more can happen. So at the next meeting of the M and O committee, Kathy asked the group, “Guess who I just met?” The committee was hooked!

It didn’t take long for an invitation to cross the street from the church to the clinic: “Come and visit and tell us more about yourself.” And a friendship was made!

That first meeting was an exchange; a time to learn and share and to understand one another. The Halifax Refugee Clinic is unlike most organizations that deal with people coming to Canada. The clients they serve are not government-sponsored folk who simply need to navigate ‘the system’ and find themselves a new home. The clinic does not receive government money, and relies on benefactors and individuals. These folk fall between the cracks in the system and often arrive with no place to stay, no sponsors, no contacts and a whole lot of fear that they won’t be allowed to stay.

The clinic provides legal and settlement services and the everyday kind of help people from around the world need in a new country. The people they serve meet the criteria for a refugee because they have “a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion” and are “living outside their country of origin and, because of fear, are unable or unwilling to return.”

And getting to Canada is only part of the solution. “Canada’s refugee system is broken, with unacceptably long delays to determine whether someone is a legitimate refugee,” according to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

How can we be good neighbours to such a clinic? The mission and outreach folk are a creative bunch so they began with information – let’s tell people about this place! And then, are there practical ways to be neighbours? Let’s do what Presbyterians do best. Let’s have a potluck and offer financial assistance to a group that doesn’t get government backing. A quick soup after service raised well over $500 to be used for the contingency funds of the groups – two women and a four-year-old had just arrived from southern Africa and needed everything to survive the late January blast of icy air that had descended on the city.

The cheque presented to the clinic will not last long but it will make a difference. When Shelley MacDonald-Parsons, convener of the mission committee, and I went to the clinic to present the cheque, we heard of other ways the church could get involved in the life of the clinic, and how clients of the clinic could get involved in the life of the congregation.

St. David’s doors are open to street people and volunteers are always needed. Clients of the clinic can’t seek out employment while their cases are being heard so any opportunity to engage in the life of the city is welcome. The opportunity to volunteer is one of the few things open to them; therefore, volunteering at the church was a great idea. Likewise, congregation members were warmly welcomed to the workshops and information evenings hosted by the clinic. The relationship is already growing.

Leaving the clinic, Shelley and I had the opportunity to talk with one of the people from Botswana: “We’d like to introduce ourselves…” And another contact and another relationship has the potential to be born!

 

Rev. Kenneth Stright is minister at the Church of St. David, Halifax.

http://www.presbyterianrecord.ca/2011/03/01/welcome-neighbour/

2009 Annual Report

To get a better idea of what the Halifax Refugee Clinic is all about, who is involved, and what we do on a daily basis here is our 2009 Annual Report. Our Annual Report for 2010 will be completed shortly and you can then see what we have accomplished over the past year!

Halifax Refugee Clinic 2009 Annual Report

Bake Sale Results!

We would like to extend a very warm “Thank you!” to those who came out to support the Halifax Refugee Clinic’s bake sale at Dalhousie University this past Tuesday. A grand total of $453 was raised!

This amount will benefit the Emergency Settlement Fund and will directly benefit clients who are in need of assistance.

Thank you so much to our amazing volunteers who baked the food for the sale and who helped with the sale.

Be sure to check out our Facebook page to see pictures of all the sweets!

“Habtom’s Path”: A CBC radio documentary

Habtom Kibreab was a client of the Clinic who took his own life in February of this
year. He was facing deportation to torture and death in Eritrea
following a negative decision on his case. Habtom was a kind, generous and hardworking man who fled to Canada to seek refuge and build a life for himself.

For those of you who didn’t catch it on Sunday, the documentary “Habtom’s Path” is available online on CBC Radio: The Sunday Edition. A huge thank you to Mary Lynk who did an amazing job editing our interviews and to create such a thoughtful and moving piece.

Rest in Peace, Habtom

http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/2010/04/habtoms-path.html

“Canada’s refugee system is broken” says Minister Kenney

Canada’s refugee system is broken, with unacceptably long delays to determine whether someone is a legitimate refugee, says Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow said the backlog of refugee claims is a manufactured crisis of the government’s own making and the government should be looking at measures such as expanding the IRB.

Read full article from the Edmonton Sun here

A new report by Peter Showler puts forward plan to reform Canada’s refugee system.

“Reform is needed, but not the kind of reform the government is planning,” explains Peter Showler, Director of the Refugee Forum at the University of Ottawa and former Chairperson of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). “Making refugee decisions is an incredibly difficult task. To meet this challenge, a reformed system needs to be based on the following three pillars: A good first decision; a reliable appeal; and the prompt removal of failed claimants.”

Click here for full press release from the Maytree foundation