Opinion: Gaza refugees in Ottawa need adequate health coverage

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Although nine months have passed since the temporary special measures immigration program opened in Gaza, only a modest number of Palestinians – 426 in early November – have managed to arrive after escaping what Foreign Minister Melanie Joly recently described it as an “increasingly dire humanitarian situation”. »

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Among the new arrivals in Ottawa is Yusuf, 15, whose complex developmental illness requires lifelong care. Small and frail for his age, he is immobile and unable to walk. His mother, a widow, has to carry him in her arms to climb the stairs to their home. As Yusuf’s full-time caregiver, his mother is unable to enter the workforce, an unrealistic requirement to receive the OHIP coverage needed to ensure Yusuf receives the medical care needed to improve his quality of life.

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Nadeen, a 69-year-old grandmother, suffers from a debilitating hip injury suffered during the bombing. She is now unable to walk independently and, although being disabled in Gaza is a death sentence, she miraculously survived and escaped. Obviously unable to work, she too is excluded from OHIP, her hopes of walking again dwindling by the day.

Yusuf and Nadeen are among the 95 percent of Palestinian visa holders in Ottawa who cannot access OHIP. Dozens of calls from health care colleagues across the province report similar obstacles in Toronto, London and Hamilton.

The Gaza visa program has attracted widespread criticism, due to its restrictive cap on visas and unprecedentedly shocking and intrusive application questions that painfully slow processing times.

As we speak with other front-line health practitioners, we unfortunately find ourselves adding to the growing criticism regarding the failure of the federal and provincial governments to properly coordinate the delivery of resettlement services for a program that the Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, conceded in February. were “failing Gazans”.

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Although Miller says some of the program’s failures can be attributed to his Israeli counterparts, there is no excuse for not having resolved the problems under Canadian control.

Under the program, visa holders like Yusuf and Nadeen receive interim federal health coverage for 90 days before switching to provincial health care. But Ontario (like Quebec and Newfoundland) has not succeeded in exempting these traumatized war survivors from an insurmountable blockade not faced by those in the ten other provinces and territories.

To access OHIP, Gaza visa holders must prove they have permanent full-time employment (or at least a guaranteed full-time employment period of six months). Despite the desire to work, the path to such employment is not easy to navigate due to language barriers, the inability to quickly complete school retraining programs, and the need to deal with post-traumatic stress important. The elderly, parents of children who are not yet of school age, and those recovering from injuries sustained in Gaza are also out of luck when it comes to medical coverage.

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Although Miller and immigration officials are aware of this problem, they have failed to extend the federal health care interim period until the OHIP barrier is cleared. Our requests for a meeting with Ontario Health Minister Silvia Jones went unanswered, although we highlight the Ford government’s waiver of these requirements in the June 2022 guide, “Ontario Health Care for Ukrainian Arrivals in the framework of the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel”.

Those arriving from Gaza come from a devastated landscape where desperate conditions have given rise to unique health complications that must be addressed immediately. Barriers that prevent families from accessing health services should be reviewed to adequately take into account public health considerations, because equitable access to health care serves the well-being of all citizens of Ontario. There is no reason for the Province of Ontario to continue to prolong the suffering and despair felt by families arriving from Gaza.

While we await a meeting with the province to correct this problem, we and our colleagues are also calling on the federal government to extend interim federal health insurance until OHIP coverage is granted. It’s the least we can do to ensure that a child with special needs can live in comfort and dignity and that a grandmother can learn to walk on her own again.

Hanan Farhat is a registered nurse in Ottawa. Matthew Behrens coordinates the Rural Refugee Rights Network.

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