{"id":133838,"date":"2017-11-24T04:13:32","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T09:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=133838"},"modified":"2017-11-24T04:13:32","modified_gmt":"2017-11-24T09:13:32","slug":"changes-coming-to-canadas-medical-inadmissibility-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/24\/changes-coming-to-canadas-medical-inadmissibility-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes coming to Canada\u2019s medical inadmissibility rules"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Canada\u2019s<\/a>
Canada\u2019s current policy of refusing immigrants deemed likely to cause excessive demand on health and social services is more than 40 years old and needs to be brought into the 21st century, Hussen said. (Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Canada\u2019s Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen says current medical inadmissibility rules for newcomers are out of touch with Canadian values and need to be reformed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hussen appeared before Parliament\u2019s Standing Committee on Immigration on Wednesday as part of a broader review of\u00a0medical inadmissibility rules for immigrants, which he said was \u201cnecessary and long overdue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s current policy of refusing immigrants deemed likely to cause excessive demand on health and social services is more than 40 years old and needs to be brought into the 21st century, Hussen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a principled perspective, the current excessive demand provision simply does not align with our country\u2019s values and the inclusion of persons with disabilities in Canadian society,\u201d Hussen said.<\/p>\n

Section 38-1C of Canada\u2019s\u00a0Immigration and Refugee Protection Act<\/em>\u00a0defines excessive demand as one \u201cfor which the anticipated costs would likely exceed average Canadian per capita health services and social services\u201d over a period of five consecutive years immediately following the most recent medical assessment. In some cases, that period can be extended to 10 consecutive years. The anticipated impact on existing wait times for health and social services in Canada is also considered.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the cost threshold for a demand to be considered excessive was\u00a0$6,655 per year, or $33,275 over five years.<\/p>\n

There are a number of exemptions to the excessive demand policy in cases of Family Sponsorship for a sponsor\u2019s spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner and dependent child.<\/p>\n

Savings through current rules \u2018incredibly small\u2019<\/h3>\n

Decisions based on the excessive demand rules result in estimated annual savings of about $135 million, Hussen said. In 2015, that amount represented 0.1 per cent of all health spending in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe numbers we are talking about are incredibly small,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hussen noted that his department, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), launched its own review of the policy in 2016 that consulted with Canada\u2019s provincial and territorial governments and disability advocates, and took into consideration the current legal landscape.<\/p>\n

A number of potential changes have been discussed, Hussen noted, including adjustments to the cost threshold and changes in the groups exempt from the provision.<\/p>\n

\u2018All options on the table\u2019<\/h3>\n

When asked if IRCC would consider scrapping the excessive demand rule altogether, Hussen said \u201call options are on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stressed, however, that the\u00a0medical examination\u00a0now required\u00a0of every applicant for a Canada Immigration Visa and some applicants for temporary status in Canada\u00a0will remain in place.<\/p>\n

The goal of the review, Hussen said, is to uphold the federal and provincial governments commitment to ensuring both the protection of Canada\u2019s health and social services and the fair treatment of immigrants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canada\u2019s Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen says current medical inadmissibility rules for newcomers are out of touch with Canadian values and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":133848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[34895,34894,34896],"class_list":["post-133838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-immigration","tag-canadas-immigration-minister-ahmed-hussen","tag-changes-coming-to-canadas-medical-inadmissibility-rules","tag-medical-inadmissibility-rules","mauthors-stephen-smith","mauthors-cic-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}