Health Care is for Everyone

Letter to the Editor, May 14, 2012

The proposed cuts to health coverage for refugees by the Harper government are misinformed and mean-spirited. They will most certainly have a devastating impact on refugees who are already in a vulnerable state of physical and mental health.

As Dr. Paul Caulford said at the recent protest action by 90 physicians, children will survive the conditions of refugee camps only to risk death due to pneumonia or asthma as a result of these cuts after they arrive in Canada.

How can Canada as a signatory of the Geneva Convention Related to the Status of Refugees, drop the obligation to care for refugees? These cuts are outrageous and short-sighted. Our goal should be to provide health care for all.

Miriam Garfinkle