{"id":584836,"date":"2026-04-15T02:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T02:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/584836\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T02:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T02:24:10","slug":"canada-faces-calls-to-rescind-planned-cuts-to-refugee-healthcare-scheme-refugees-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/584836\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada faces calls to rescind planned cuts to refugee healthcare scheme | Refugees News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto, Canada \u2013 Rallies have been held across Canada urging the government to reverse planned cuts to a healthcare programme for refugees and asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

Dozens of people demonstrated in Toronto on Tuesday as part of a national day of action against cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), which are set to come into effect on May 1. Critics say the curbs put vulnerable people at risk and will lead to higher costs down the line.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe want to make sure that we have a universal healthcare system, and we also don\u2019t want a system that punches down against vulnerable people and migrants,\u201d Dr Ritika Goel told Al Jazeera at the protest in downtown Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to support a system that provides care to everyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Canadian government announced in late January<\/a> that it would be making changes to the IFHP, which provides basic health coverage to refugees, asylum claimants, and others not covered by other healthcare programmes in Canada.<\/p>\n

As of next month, people receiving IFHP coverage will have to pay $4 per eligible prescription medication, as well as 30 percent of the cost of supplemental services such as dental and vision care, and counselling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntroducing co-payments for supplemental health products and services helps manage growing demand, keeping the IFHP sustainable over the long term,\u201d a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) told Al Jazeera in an email.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis approach will allow the government to continue supporting eligible beneficiaries while keeping the program fair and consistent with other publicly funded health insurance programs that provide supplemental benefits, including those available to many social assistance recipients.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Toronto-basedToronto-based family doctor Ritika Goel speaks during the rally in Toronto, Canada, on April 14, 2026 [Jillian Kestler-D\u2019Amours\/Al Jazeera]Major spending cuts<\/p>\n

While the new co-payments may appear modest, doctors and refugee rights advocates say they can be prohibitively expensive for newcomers struggling to rebuild their lives in Canada amid soaring costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, it can have the result of preventing or discouraging [people] from seeking healthcare supports and services that they need,\u201d Aisling Bondy, president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, said in an interview in late March.<\/p>\n

That is \u201cvery concerning\u201d, Bondy told Al Jazeera, \u201cespecially when we\u2019re talking about people who have just arrived in Canada, who are just becoming established, and who are very vulnerable and have experienced physical and psychological trauma\u201d.<\/p>\n

The cuts come as views towards refugees and migrants in Canada have soured in recent years amid soaring costs of living and an affordable housing shortage.<\/p>\n

After a rapid increase in arrivals during the COVID-19 pandemic, a poll in October<\/a> of last year found that more than half of Canadians said they believe the country accepts too many immigrants.<\/p>\n

And since taking office in March 2025, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has moved to alleviate pressure on a strained immigration system.<\/p>\n

Carney\u2019s government is drastically cutting down on temporary visas, including for international students and foreign workers. It passed a new law last month that introduced new restrictions on access to asylum, drawing condemnation from rights groups<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is also making massive budget cuts across various departments amid economic uncertainty, and is seeking to slash<\/a> $60 billion in Canadian dollars ($43.5bn US) in public spending over five years.<\/p>\n

\"AA protester holds a sign that reads, \u2018No cuts to refugee health\u2019 at the rally in Toronto, Canada, April 14, 2026 [Jillian Kestler-D\u2019Amours\/Al Jazeera]\u2018Increasing suffering, expenditures\u2019<\/p>\n

According to the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the cost of the IFHP<\/a> rose from $211 million Canadian dollars ($153m US) in 2020-2021 to $896 million Canadian dollars ($645m US) in 2024-2025 as the number of beneficiaries and cost per beneficiary \u201cincreased significantly\u201d.<\/p>\n

The programme is projected to grow at an average of 11.2 percent annually through 2030, although that is far below the 33.7 percent seen over the past five years, the office said.<\/p>\n

The IRCC spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the changes to the programme \u201ccould result\u201d in $126.8 million in Canadian dollars ($91.95m US) in savings in 2026-2027, and $231.9 million in Canadian dollars ($168.2m US) \u201conwards\u201d.<\/p>\n

But Dr Margot Burnell, president of the Canadian Medical Association, has said the changes to the IHRP would likely increase \u2013 not reduce \u2013 overall costs to the healthcare system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen patients cannot afford medications or essential supports, preventable conditions worsen and ultimately require emergency or hospital care, increasing both human suffering and system-wide expenditures,\u201d she said in a letter<\/a> to Canada\u2019s health minister in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new co-payments will also create additional administrative burden for frontline providers, including pharmacists, dentists, optometrists, and physicians, further straining a healthcare system already under pressure,\u201d Burnell said.<\/p>\n

She also warned that the changes would amount to \u201ca de facto denial of care\u201d for patients living in poverty.<\/p>\n

Similar arguments were made in 2012, when then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper also made cuts to the IHRP, prompting widespread protests and a legal challenge.<\/p>\n

In 2014, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that the curbs amounted to \u201ccruel and unusual\u201d treatment and violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.<\/p>\n

The cuts were later rescinded when former PM Justin Trudeau\u2019s Liberal Party defeated Harper\u2019s Conservatives in a 2015 election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto, Canada \u2013 Rallies have been held across Canada urging the government to reverse planned cuts to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[103,97,252,253,3,111,2564,12076,1209],"class_list":{"0":"post-584836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-protests","15":"tag-refugees","16":"tag-us-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}