Discrimination Against People Wanting to Immigrate

                I had recently found an article about a family wanting to immigrate to Canada, but with the health issues of one son, the entire family is not allowed to stay living in Canada. I had then researched how the family may be able to bring the son into Canada with them, but the concluding answer was no. It is a struggle for any family to come into Canada, there are many health tests that need to be taken, an abundance of paper work to fill out and not everyone in your family will be able to join you in this big move in your life.

                The article I chose was called “Family Ripped Apart, Immigration Says Son With Asperger’s ‘Inadmissible.’ I was immediately intrigued by this article just by the title alone. How can we as citizens not allow someone to come into our country, just because of a physical or mental illness? Coming to Canada may be to their benefit, in order to help them get more knowledge on their disease and to get some help for it. Why are we discriminating other people with disabilities, where as Canada is estimated to have over a quarter million of its families to have been touched by someone in their lives who is on the autism spectrum (Ontario Adult Autism Research and Support Network)? How does any of this make sense?

                To go on with what the article is talking about; Chris Reynolds wants to stay in Canada with his father and brother, but the only way his family’s application would be approved for permanent residency is if he is not on it. The Immigration officials say Reynolds will be too big of a drain on the health care system because he himself has Asperger’s syndrome and Tourette’s syndrome. His father and brother are torn between living in Canada permanently without Chris or staying where they are as a family. An early medical assessment by Citizenship and Immigration Canada was done and concluded that Chris would be deemed “medically inadmissible” and estimated his care could cost Canadians $7,000 a year. Chris’ father has been paying for Chris’ care out of his own pocket and his employer’s insurance plan covers the five medications that Chris has through a co-payment plan. Chris’ father says “even if Chris ends up needing continual care, is there nothing my family offers Canada to help offset the public cost of Chris?” The family withdrew their immigration application under the skilled worker program and has not opted to apply under the humanitarian and compassionate stream, based on advice given to them by their immigration lawyer. But unfortunately time is running out for the Reynolds’s because Chris is turning 22 soon and when he does he will be considered too old to be included on his father’s application if he were to apply again (Keung 2011). It is bad enough that grandparents of the family are not allowed to join the family for immigration, but now saying that your own child cannot accompany you, that is just ridiculous!

                How sad is it that Canada turns down people because of what they have, in this case a disorder, instead of what they could bring and the opportunities that this country can give them. Immigrating to Canada should be a happy and joyous time, knowing that new and better opportunities will come. But with all of the rules and regulations that are being put in place, many families are being turned away by the new experiences they could have, because of the things that could and has happened to many families in Canada. This is clearly an example of how many people are being discriminated before they come to Canada and because of the scrutiny they suffer,  most families are not able to come into Canada, due to some of the mental/physical disorders someone in their family suffers from.

-Alannah

References:

Keung, Nicholas (2011). Family Ripped Apart, Immigration Says Son with Asperger’s ‘Inadmissable. Retrieved from: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1008827--family-ripped-apart-immigration-says-son-with-asperger-s-inadmissible

Ontario Adult Autism Research and Support Network. How Many People Have Autism? Retrieved from: http://www.ont-autism.uoguelph.ca/how_many_people.shtml