Minister stands by denying health coverage to failed refugees

The federal government is standing by a decision to stop paying for most health-care services for failed refugee claimants.

The Catholic Health Alliance of Canada called on Immigration MinisterJason Kenney to reverse the policy in a letter dated March 8.

'So called unsuccessful or failed refugee claimants still haveunder Canadian lawa right to appeal.' Dr. Philip Berger

Kenney was unavailablefor acomment Monday, but a statement fromhis office makes it clear there will beno change.

"Canadians have been clear that they do not want illegal immigrants and asylum seekers with unfounded refugee claims receiving free, gold-plated health-care benefits that are better than those that hard-working Canadian taxpayers and seniors receive,"the statementread."Our government has listened and acted."

But Fariborz Birjandian, executive director of the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society,says a better way for the government to save money would be to speed up the refugee process.

"Expedite the whole process so people who are not eligible to be in Canada, should not be inCanada then," he said."But if they are here, we should provide them the basic right to access social services, includinghealth."

Dr. Philip Berger, who is also involved in a legal challenge on the issue, says the government has an obligation to care for people even if their refugee claim has been denied.

"So called unsuccessful or failed refugee claimants still haveunder Canadian lawa right to appeal, and in that case should be receiving health insurance becausethey're not here illegally," he said."They're under thedomain and responsiblity of the federal government."

Medical students in a dozen cities across the country areplanning a day of action on the issuenext month. According to the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society, about1,000 refugee claimants come to Alberta every year.

Mexican woman, who pays taxes,affected by change

Maria Morales is just one of many people affected by the change.Sheapplied for Canadian refugee statusin 2009 with her partner Ivan Nava after settling in Okotoks, south of Calgary,and findingjobs. They came to Canada to escape violence in Mexico.

After a sudden illness, she was diagnosed with fibroids,which are non-cancerous tumours. But six months later, during a hysterectomy, doctors discovered she had Stage 4 cancer, much of it inoperable.

But the government cut offfailed refugees from anything other than emergency life-threatening care or care for illnesses that pose a public health risk, such as tuberculosis.

Although they didn't know it at the time, Morales and Nava were considered failed refugees.

Their claims were deemed "abandoned" because when they moved houses, asthey had registered a new address with Citizenship and Immigration Canada but not with the refugee board.

It isn't known whether their claims would have passed, but the federal government is no longer providing most health care to the couple, including Morales's chemotherapy.

Morales and Nava still pay taxes, said their lawyer Raj Sharma.

However, Morales is still receiving life-prolonging chemotherapy treatments from Alberta Health Services but only because she was misdiagnosed, said lawyer Jeff Poole.

She and Nava have applied for permanent residency in Canada, this time based on humanitarian grounds because of her aggressive cancer.

Catholic Health Alliance of Canada letter: