Federal Government Decision

: The unlikely protesters were doctors and health-care workers trying to focus public attention on the federal government 2012 decision to stop funding health care for refugee claimants, despite a 2014 Federal Court ruling that described that policy as "cruel and unusual treatment." In her July ruling, Judge Anne McTavish gave the government four months to restore funding, according to The Waterloo Record. But Ottawa, which is appealing, has only partly restored the money. And once again, an issue affecting a relatively small group of people has blown into a damaging series of sound-bites that illustrates the Harper government narrow fixation on extreme cost-cutting and ideological intransigence. The government argued at the time that because many refugee claimants are refused permanent entry to Canada, Canadians shouldn't have to pay for their health care. However, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers argued that the new system discriminated against some claimants based on their country of origin, which would violate the Charter. It said refugees from certain countries would have claims fast-tracked. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.