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Harper government set to provide details on revising refugee health coverage

Immigration minister says federal government will appeal Friday's court decision overturning its cuts to refugee health-care funding

The Harper government will comply with a court ruling reinstate a health care package for refugee claimants.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander made the announcement via Twitter, on Tuesday, ahead of a midnight deadline set by a federal court judge last July.

The deadline emanated from the government’s decision, in 2012, to restrict health benefits of most refugees and eliminate health services for rejected claimants and asylum seekers from countries designated as “safe” — countries that generally do not produce refugees, which respect human rights and offer state protections.

A group calling itself Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care took the federal government to court, arguing that the changes were “cruel” especially for children of refugees and had violated Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The doctors won the case.

"While it is open to government to assign priorities and set limits on social benefit plans such as the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), the intentional targeting of an admittedly poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged group for adverse treatment takes this situation beyond the realm of traditional Charter challenges to social benefit programs," Madame Justice Anne Mactavish said in her judgement giving the government four months to reverse the changes.

"The 2012 modifications to the Interim Federal Health Program
potentially jeopardize the health, the safety and indeed the very lives, of these innocent and vulnerable children in a manner that shocks the conscience and outrages our standards of decency.”

The Tories are appealing the decision and, in the meantime, had asked for a stay on the November 4th deadline. Their request was rejected last week.

It’s still unclear, however, if the government will revert to pre-2012 IFHP spending levels.

A spokesperson for Alexander that more information would be available after Question Period today.

[ Related: New Harper government measure could restrict social assistance for asylum seekers ]

There are two distinct narratives of the Harper government’s handling of the refugee file.

On Tuesday, in the House of Commons, Alexander clearly articulated his department’s position.

"On our side of the House it is not among basic Canadian values to offer health care – often health care that went beyond that provided to Canadians – to those whose immigration and refugee claims have failed, or to those who were deliberately fraudulent in their representations to the Immigration and Refugee Board," he said, according to CBC News.

"And we will continue to stand up for the interests of taxpayers in that respect."

In the past, the government justified the changes by citing reports about applicants — primarily from Hungary and Mexico — who came to Canada solely for the purpose of “exploiting” social assistance and health benefits.

They’ve also touted statistics, obtained by Postmedia News, which stated that between Jan. 17 and Dec. 31, 2011, “8,819 Mexicans racked up nearly $7 million in health care costs under the Interim Federal Health Program.”

To add insult to injury, 5,068 refugee applications from Mexico were either rejected, withdrawn or abandoned in 2011.

[ Related: Should Canada accept more refugees? ]

Opponents of the government, however, suggest that they’re attacking refugees.

"The big picture is grim, at the moment. And what it shows us is an increasingly regressive policy development on the federal level with respect to the treatment of refugees," Melanie Spence, a nursing student at the University of Toronto and a member of Health for All one of the many groups fighting for refugee rights told Rabble.ca.

"We’re also seeing just generally, an anti-immigrant sentiment.

"This is fueled by language such as ‘bogus refugees…claiming gold-plated gold-plated health care’ or ‘cue jumpers’. This is all language intended to divide and conquer..within the migrant population and between migrants and Canadians."

Groups like Spence’s were likely not surprised by the Conservative government’s latest omnibus budget bill which included legislation allowing provinces to bar asylum seekers from receiving benefits such as housing or other support services. That bill will likely become law before Christmas.

Last week, Elizabeth Berton-Hunter, a spokesperson for Amnesty International told Yahoo Canada News that the government’s actions are hurting Canada’s reputation.

"Canada has over the decades had a very positive reputation in the international community when it comes to refugee protection," she said.

"However, changes to its laws and policies to make its immigration and refugee system more restrictive over the last five years, for example, by making drastic cuts to its Interim Federal Health Program, is putting that image in jeopardy."