Toronto, Canada – Rallies have been held across Canada urging the government to reverse planned cuts to a healthcare programme for refugees and asylum seekers.
Dozens of people demonstrated in Toronto on Tuesday as part of a national day of action against cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), which are set to come into effect on May 1. Critics say the curbs put vulnerable people at risk and will lead to higher costs down the line.
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“We want to make sure that we have a universal healthcare system, and we also don’t want a system that punches down against vulnerable people and migrants,” Dr Ritika Goel told Al Jazeera at the protest in downtown Toronto.
“We want to support a system that provides care to everyone,” she said.
The Canadian government announced in late January that it would be making changes to the IFHP, which provides basic health coverage to refugees, asylum claimants, and others not covered by other healthcare programmes in Canada.
As of next month, people receiving IFHP coverage will have to pay $4 per eligible prescription medication, as well as 30 percent of the cost of supplemental services such as dental and vision care, and counselling.
“Introducing co-payments for supplemental health products and services helps manage growing demand, keeping the IFHP sustainable over the long term,” a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) told Al Jazeera in an email.
“This approach will allow the government to continue supporting eligible beneficiaries while keeping the program fair and consistent with other publicly funded health insurance programs that provide supplemental benefits, including those available to many social assistance recipients.”
Major spending cuts
While the new co-payments may appear modest, doctors and refugee rights advocates say they can be prohibitively expensive for newcomers struggling to rebuild their lives in Canada amid soaring costs.
“Certainly, it can have the result of preventing or discouraging [people] from seeking healthcare supports and services that they need,” Aisling Bondy, president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, said in an interview in late March.
That is “very concerning”, Bondy told Al Jazeera, “especially when we’re talking about people who have just arrived in Canada, who are just becoming established, and who are very vulnerable and have experienced physical and psychological trauma”.
The cuts come as views towards refugees and migrants in Canada have soured in recent years amid soaring costs of living and an affordable housing shortage.
After a rapid increase in arrivals during the COVID-19 pandemic, a poll in October of last year found that more than half of Canadians said they believe the country accepts too many immigrants.
And since taking office in March 2025, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has moved to alleviate pressure on a strained immigration system.
Carney’s government is drastically cutting down on temporary visas, including for international students and foreign workers. It passed a new law last month that introduced new restrictions on access to asylum, drawing condemnation from rights groups.
It is also making massive budget cuts across various departments amid economic uncertainty, and is seeking to slash $60 billion in Canadian dollars ($43.5bn US) in public spending over five years.
‘Increasing suffering, expenditures’
According to the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the cost of the IFHP rose from $211 million Canadian dollars ($153m US) in 2020-2021 to $896 million Canadian dollars ($645m US) in 2024-2025 as the number of beneficiaries and cost per beneficiary “increased significantly”.
The programme is projected to grow at an average of 11.2 percent annually through 2030, although that is far below the 33.7 percent seen over the past five years, the office said.
The IRCC spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the changes to the programme “could result” in $126.8 million in Canadian dollars ($91.95m US) in savings in 2026-2027, and $231.9 million in Canadian dollars ($168.2m US) “onwards”.
But Dr Margot Burnell, president of the Canadian Medical Association, has said the changes to the IHRP would likely increase – not reduce – overall costs to the healthcare system.
“When patients cannot afford medications or essential supports, preventable conditions worsen and ultimately require emergency or hospital care, increasing both human suffering and system-wide expenditures,” she said in a letter to Canada’s health minister in February.
“The new co-payments will also create additional administrative burden for frontline providers, including pharmacists, dentists, optometrists, and physicians, further straining a healthcare system already under pressure,” Burnell said.
She also warned that the changes would amount to “a de facto denial of care” for patients living in poverty.
Similar arguments were made in 2012, when then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper also made cuts to the IHRP, prompting widespread protests and a legal challenge.
In 2014, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that the curbs amounted to “cruel and unusual” treatment and violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The cuts were later rescinded when former PM Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party defeated Harper’s Conservatives in a 2015 election.