Canadian Doctors For Refugee Care: Lorne Waldman

Daniel Garcia Rodriguez Dept: This week, Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care and the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers joined forces to ask the Federal Court to declare the government action unconstitutional. To provide real-life evidence, they were joined by three men Daniel Garcia Rodriguez of Colombia, Ahmad Awatt of Iraq and Hanif Ayubi of Afghanistan who escaped persecution in their home countries only to be denied life-saving drugs and treatment in Canada, according to The Star. Lorne Waldman , lead counsel, made the legal case. It is also far below the standard any democratic country should provide for refugee claimants or any other human being under their jurisdiction, he said. These cuts are inconsistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Canada international obligations under the UN Refugee Convention. Pleas for compassion went unheeded. Protests didn t work. Now the country two most powerful professions doctors and lawyers have resorted to court action . They are challenging Immigration Minister Jason Kenney legal right to deny medical care to refugee claimants. Dr. Meb Rashid, who heads the Crossroads Clinic for Refugees at Women College Hospital, made the medical case. This is far below the standard any physician would hope to provide to his or her patients, he said. Ultimately these reductions will cost the health-care system as much or more in emergency care and have already caused a great deal of suffering. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.