[Wamvan] Gutting the Interim Federal Health Program

[Meenakshi Mannoe]

forwarded within my workplace. re: harper and kenney's gutting of
resources for  refugees, protected persons and refugee claimants, as
well as to their dependants. please sign this petition (link below)
and forward widely.


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Hi Friends

A very big hello to those of you who I have not seen in some time.

I am writing to you to ask for you help in fighting a policy by the
Canadian government that is very dear to my heart. (I apologize to any
of you that I already contacted via Facebook- I have been having
challenges with that site and am not sure who I actually got through
to).

As most of you know, my main nursing job is with newly arrived
refugees in Canada. You can imagine how shocked my colleagues and I
were a few weeks ago when we learned that the Canadian government is
planning to cut off funding for primary care and medications for this
most vulnerable population. The government is framing these cuts as a
way to discourage "bogus" refugees from making false claims in Canada,
but they are failing to mention that these cuts will be to all refugee
claimants and even to refugees that the Canadian government has
already determined the validity of their claim and has in fact invited
them to resettle in Canada. Is it really fair to invite someone with
diabetes to resettle in Canada and then deny them access to
medications when they get here?

Last Friday physicians across the country protested against these
cuts. There is a growing movement of health care workers in Canada who
are outraged.
I have launched a protest on change.org to stop these changes.

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-cuts-to-healthcare-for-refugees-in-canada

This is where you come in. Please sign the petition and forward it to
your contacts. The cuts are set to take effect July 1, so there is
very little time. There is more information as well as links to
summaries of the cuts and national media articles about physicians
responses to these changes on the site for the petition.

I really appreciate everyone's help with this.

Annette