Last Wednesday, psychologist, legal scholar, and anthropologist Janet Cleveland spoke on the impact of federal cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) on refugees. The event was a Brown Bag Seminar hosted by McGill’s Faculty of Law.

The policy came into effect on June 30, 2012. Cleveland said it limits health care coverage for approximately 20,000 refugee claimants in Canada.

“A [refugee is a] person who flees to another country and asks for asylum because he or she has serious reason to fear that, if sent back to his or her country of origin, he orshe would be persecuted because of his or her ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, political opinions or similar reasons,” she said.

“The current [refugee health care] situation in practice is chaotic,” Cleveland said. “Many clinics and hospitals simply refuse all refugee claimants. There’s this false perception that claimants no longer have medical coverage.”

Following the recent cutbacks, the federal government created a system with three main types of IFHP coverage: Expanded Health Care Coverage, Health Care Coverage, and Public Health/Public Safety Health Coverage.

[pullquote]Billing is apparently a nightmare. There are lots of delays and there is a big turndown rate.[/pullquote]

“The new system and the incredible lack of information from the government created confusion as to who is entitled to what,” Cleveland said. “Some people lost their coverage because they didn’t realize they needed to renew IFHP documents, and for many operations, pre-authorization is required. Billing is apparently a nightmare. There are lots of delays and there is a big turn-down rate.”

A direct negative impact of the new system on refugees is that there exist almost no medical services available to refused refugee claimants, except in Quebec. In addition, there are insufficient supplies of medication for all refugee claimants and privately sponsored refugees—those whose care is sponsored by their employers or by non-governmental organizations.

Moreover, it is increasingly difficult for refugees to access the care to which they are entitled, especially those in need of long-term care, such as pregnant women and people with chronic conditions.

The government has several reasons for the changes—one of which is to save money.

“[The federal government’s] rationale is that for a number of years they’ve been spreading propaganda that refugees are getting better coverage than Canadians,” she said. “In practice though, refugees claimants receive [health care] very much similar to low-income Canadians.”

According to Cleveland, this discourse and policy seem to be anti-refugee in nature, and portray refugee claimants as opportunistic. As a result of these federal measures, provinces are forced to carry much of the financial burden involved in caring for refugees.

“In Quebec, refused refugee claimants are still covered until [their] deportation date,” Cleveland explained. “[In Ontario] the government provides [the] same supplemental coverage for refugee claimants as for citizens. [In] British Columbia, there is social assistance for refugee claimants …  [In Alberta], Adult Health Benefit and Child Health Benefit are provided to low-income families for essential medications, and basic dental and eye care.”

Josh Pincott, a third-year arts student, said he found the seminar interesting, and that he was surprised by the information provided at the event.

“I didn’t realize the cuts had so many implications for refugees,” Pincott said. “I think it would also be interesting to ask how much responsibility the federal government should take for refugees’ welfare rather than what they do.”

Two Canadians dead after major storm

Hurricane Sandy made headlines for the severe damage it cuased in the Caribbean, New York, and New Jersey, but the storm also reached Canada’s east coast, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to Southern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. The storm claimed the lives of two Canadians last week and spanned 2,000 miles.

In Toronto, a woman died after a falling sign struck her as she was walking on the street. Early Wednesday morning, a Bluewater Power hydro worker in Sarnia was electrocuted while repairing broken power lines. According to the CBC, the Ontario Ministry of Labour plans to launch an investigation into his death.

Sandy left over 200,000 people without power in Ontario and Nova Scotia, forcing the Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre in Halifax to cancel numerous surgeries. By Wednesday afternoon, however, hydroelctric power companies had managed to restore electricity to most affected homes.

Toronto Hydro predicted that power line repairs will cost the city approximately $1 million. The total cost of damages in Canada has yet to be determined.

Citizenship and immigration minister introduces new immigration rules

Last Friday, the Government of Canada introduced a new set of immigration rules, declaring that anyone who moves to Canada to live with their spouse must stay in the relationship for at least two years before receiving permanent residency.

According to the Globe and Mail, the two-year probation period will apply to “couples in a relationship of two years or less,” and who have no children together at the time the spouse immigrates to Canada. The couple must also live together during those two years.

These rules are part of a series of changes to immigration policy meant to take measures against immigration fraud, and will prevent people from making a profit by accepting money for acting as an immigrant’s spouse.

Some outreach workers and immigration lawyers have criticized the new rules, arguing that they will present a barrier for immigrants trying to escape abusive relationships. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney addressed this, saying the new rules will not apply to situations in which a new immigrant is being mistreated by their partner.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois found guilty of contempt of court

Last Thursday, Justice Jacques Denis found former CLASSE spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois guilty of contempt of court for allegedly encouraging striking students to violate court orders.

This past summer, a number of students whose access to classes was blocked by strikers obtained court injunctions that allowed them to return to class. Judge Denis ruled that Nadeau-Dubois was guilty of  telling protestors it was legitimate for them to form picket lines to prevent these students from going to class.

Nadeau-Dubois claimed he was not aware of the injunctions, and will be raising money to appeal the court’s decision. He could face up to one year in jail, a $50,000 fine, and community service work. Approximately 100 protesters took to the street Thursday night in a spontaneous demonstration in defence of Dubois’ case.

This news comes shortly after UQÀM’s announcement that the student strike has cost the university at least $20 million. According to the Montreal Gazette, Quebec Minister of Higher Education Pierre Duchesne suggests that the total cost for all post-secondary institutions is $40 million.

Long-gun registry officially terminated; Quebec obtains rights to provincial data

Last Thursday marked the end of the national long-gun registry. A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews announced that all remaining data, with the exception of Quebec data, has been destroyed.

Quebec Superior Court Judge Marc-André Blanchard granted a permanent injunction, prohibiting the destruction of the data in question because the provincial and federal governments co-operated in the creation of the registry. Quebec plans to establish its own registry.

Since its introduction in 1993, opponents have criticized the registry as challenging the rights of rural Canadians to legally own hunting rifles, and as an ineffective means of increasing public safety. Critics have cited the billions of dollars spent on its operation, although a study by the Canada Press predicts that savings to taxpayers will be minimal.

Canada is one of few countries on the international stage that has rolled back gun control laws. The federal government has agreed to comply with international standards of assigning serial numbers to track restricted firearms, although there will not be penalties for non-compliance.

Pfizer job cuts shed light on restructuring of national pharmaceutical industry

Last week, Pfizer Inc., a multinational drug company, announced plans to layoff 300 professional employees, most of whom are based in Montreal. This is the most recent in a series of province-wide cuts, in what appears to be a restructuring of the global pharmaceutical industry.

In 2008, Quebec’s pharmaceutical industry employed over 9,000 people, while numbers released last week indicated only 5,320 working professionals in the industry.

These numbers also draw attention to the westward shift in Canadian pharmaceutical investment. This past June, the British Columbia government announced plans to invest approximately $1.5 billion in new private-public research institutes, effectively challenging Quebec’s status as Canada’s main pharmaceutical hub.

Further cutbacks in Quebec are expected in the near future. Boeringer Ingelheim announced in September that it will close down its Laval research lab by 2013. Johnson and Johnson, Sanofi, and Merck also announced hundreds of layoffs earlier this year.