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e-1556 (Immigration)
E-petition
Initiated by Mercedes Benitez from Toronto, Ontario
Original language of petition: English
Petition to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Whereas:
- Section 38(1)(c) of the Immigration Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) allows for the rejection of an entire family of applicants if one individual has a disability or medical condition that officials believe could put “excessive demand” on Canada’s health and/or social services;
- Witnesses appearing before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration confirmed that the assessment of “excessive demand” was arbitrary, inaccurate, and does not account for contributions of the individual and/or family to society and therefore changing any threshold would not bring the policy in line with Canadian values;
- Section 38(1)(c) has been recognized by parliamentarians, committee witnesses and the Minister of Immigration as discrimination against individuals with disabilities;
- Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, states that every individual has the right to equal benefit of the law without discrimination based on mental or physical disability;
- Canada has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which states people with disabilities, “Have the right to acquire and change a nationality and are not deprived of their nationality arbitrarily or on the basis of disability”; and
- Approximately one-thousand families every year are unjustly separated and suffer from this discrimination.
We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, families and friends of those affected by the medical inadmissibility clause, call upon the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to repeal Section 38(1)(c) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
- Open for signature
- March 2, 2018, at 12:30 p.m. (EDT)
- Closed for signature
- June 30, 2018, at 12:30 p.m. (EDT)
