International students held a rally Wednesday to call on Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew to make good on a promise to bring back their health-care coverage.
Kinew’s NDP pledged during the 2023 election campaign that brought the part to power that his government would reinstitute the coverage, rescinded by the Progressive Conservative government in 2018.
Students at the small gathering outside the premier’s constituency office in Winnipeg Wednesday said two years later, they’re still not eligible for provincial health insurance.
Omega Budhathoki, vice-president of external affairs at the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association, said that means students must pay for private insurance that only provides them limited coverage.
“Students pay over $1,300 on their basic plan, which does not cover a lot of things like prescription drugs, so you still would need some extended coverage,” Budhathoki said.
Omega Budhathoki with the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association said international students have waited too long for health-care coverage to be restored. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)
“A lot of people live in a lot of fear … saying, ‘OK I can’t afford to be sick,'” she said.
“Students are here to get education, not live in anxiety and fear to just keep themselves alive.”
Judith Oviosun-Smith, one of the authors of a 2024 report that said students were forgoing care because they fear the costs, said this should be a priority for the province.
“We have members of our community who are waiting until their illness is critical,” she said.
“We don’t want to get to a point where we’re losing people in Manitoba because they’re afraid to access health-care.”
Working on solution: province
A ministerial spokesperson said in a statement the province’s Health and Advanced Education departments are working on a solution.
Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Wednesday it’s much easier to cut than to restore programs, but reaffirmed the government’s commitment.
“We know that it’s something that will also make Manitoba more attractive to international students, and with the changes handed down by the federal government in terms of immigration, that becomes really, really important,” Asagwara said.
The protesters called for coverage to be reinstated at the start of the next school year.
“We keep getting told that … [it’s] really hard to get anything ongoing right now, or that there’s been, like, priorities in other places,” Oviosun-Smith said.
“We’re tired of waiting.”