Justice Anne Mactavish and Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander: Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander says the government will appeal Friday decision by Justice Anne Mactavish, which denounced the cuts as "cruel and unusual" treatment particularly to the children of claimants who have sought refuge in Canada, according to Times Colonist. "There was not just normal health care, but enhanced health care, that goes well beyond what most Canadians receive, going to people whose claims failed, whose claims were literally bogus." The Conservative government has another legal battle on its hands after the Federal Court ruled against controversial reductions to health-care coverage for refugee claimants. "We think it is absolutely incumbent on us as a government to defend the interests of taxpayers that weren't being looked after under the previous system," Alexander said at his constituency office in Ajax, Ont. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.