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Ahmed Hussen/Facebook

Canada: Ottawa to end rejection policy for immigrants on medical grounds by April

| @indiablooms | Feb 18, 2018, at 04:01 pm

Ottawa, Feb 18 (IBNS): Canadian  Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said this week he will present a plan by April to abandon 40-year-old policy that excludes immigrants based on their medical conditions, media reports said.

It "does not align with our country's values of inclusion of person with disabilities in Canadian society," Hussen was reported to state last fall to immigration committee.

Hussen was told this week that the House of Commons -- after studying Hussen's issue -- was working on a response and will present its plan by April 12.

"How we do that is equally important, because this affects provincial health care and social service budgets and we have to do it in line with what the provinces are willing to do," Hussen said.

But Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) reportedly said  it wanted a quicker action to end the discriminatory clause.

In a news conference held last week, NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan had reportedly called on the government to repeal discriminatory clause from the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

She said the issue has been on the government's radar since 2016, yet the "discriminatory" policy that causes "heartache and hardship" remains.

"Still there's no action," Kwan said.

Maurice Tomlinson, senior policy analyst at The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, was also reported to state that the discriminatory clause was 'Hurtful, stigmatizing and unnecessary.'

"Any tinkering with it would only perpetuate discrimination against persons with disabilities.This hurtful, stigmatizing and unnecessary regime must end,"  Tomlinson said.

 

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

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