FCJ Refugee Centre joined healthcare providers, refugees and community members this Friday in Toronto to call on the federal government to reverse the announced cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) refugee healthcare coverage.

The federal government has cut 15% of the refugee healthcare budget and is introducing unaffordable co-payments for essential healthcare, including medications, mental health counselling, physical therapy, and vision care.

These cuts take effect May 1, 2026, and will immediately harm refugees, who are already struggling to meet basic needs, like food and housing.

These co-payments function as a denial of care – refugees’ health will worsen, more individuals will unnecessarily end up in already strained emergency departments and hospitals, and health care costs will rise. Financially, the co-payment plan will cost Canada more, not less.

Gallery (29 pictures):

Sign and amplify these petitions calling on the government to stop cuts to refugee healthcare. Once you sign it, send to 5 friends and ask them to pass it on!

• Canadian Medical Association:
  https://www.cma.ca/get-involved/health-advocacy
• Canadian Pediatric Society:
  https://cps.ca/en/advocacy-defense/speak-out-protecting-ifhp-benefits
• Migrant Rights Network:
  https://migrantrights.ca/actionslist/stopifhpcuts/
• Canadian Council for Refugees:
  https://www.ccrweb.ca/en/act-now-write-your-mp-stop-cuts-refugee-healthcare

FCJ Refugee Centre intervened in the case, advocating for the right to access childcare and for a broader prohibition on discrimination based on a person’s immigration status

Refugee claimants with young children in Quebec are eligible for the province’s subsidized child-care system, the Supreme Court ruled earlier this month in a majority decision that focused on Charter equality rights.

The case dates back to October 2018, when Bijou Cibuabua Kanyinda, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a mother of three young children, applied for refugee status after entering Canada at Roxham Road on Quebec’s border with the United States.

While her application was pending, she received a work permit and looked for subsidized child-care, but she was rejected on the grounds that Quebec public child-care system is open to people with refugee status but not to those with pending claims.

Ms. Kanyinda challenged the regulation in court, in a case in which FCJ Refugee Centre intervened, advocating for her right to access childcare and for a broader prohibition on discrimination based on a person’s immigration status.

On March 6, eight of nine Supreme Court judges agreed that the Quebec regulation violated the equality rights of refugee women under Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, both by posing a disparate impact on their ability to access the labour market and by furthering their social isolation.

The Supreme Court dismissed the government’s appeal and affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal for Quebec below, which had come to the same conclusion. As a remedy, the Court took the step of reading in refugee claimants to the list of persons in the statute who qualify for subsidized daycare in the province.

FCJ Refugee Centre’s arguments at the Supreme Court focused on whether immigration status should be considered an analogous ground under Section 15 of the Charter, which prohibits discrimination on a variety of grounds including race, sex, etc.

While the court did not go so far as to recognize immigration status as an analogous ground, this decision represents a big win. Significantly, Chief Justice Richard Wagner wrote a concurring opinion in which he found that refugee claimants form an analogous category under Section15 of the Charter, meaning disadvantaging refugee claimants solely because they are refugee claimants would be impermissible discrimination under Canada’s constitution. Since Chief Justice Wagner was writing alone on this point, his concurring opinion does not change the law, but it is an important step in the right direction.

FCJ Refugee Centre would like to thank all the organizations and lawyers who have worked on this case, including Joshua Eisen, FCJ Refugee Centre’s In-House Lawyer; Y. Y. Brandon Chen, Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law; the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre; and Bruce Porter, from the Social Rights Advocacy Centre.

The Winter 2026 Newsletter is here! Check out what we’ve been up to these past few months, and have a look to some of our upcoming events and activities. Don’t miss it!

In this issue you’ll find, among many other things, photos of our participation in the International Women’s Day March, information about the Soli*City 2026 Global Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, in which we also participated, and details about the government’s decision requiring refugee claimants to co-pay for some of their health care coverage.

All this, along with a very special announcement: tickets for the FCJ Refugee Centre’s 35th Anniversary Gala Dinner are now available for purchase! And you can also become a sponsor and make a real difference in the lives of refugees, migrants, and people in precarious situations.

Speaking at the Senate of Canada this Tuesday, FCJ Refugee Centre’s In-House Lawyer, Joshua Eisen, said that “every day we hear painful and heartbreaking stories of persecution and violence from individuals whose right to seek refugee protection — a right enshrined in international law — will be undermined by Bill C-12,” adding that “contrary to what the bill’s proponents would have us believe, Bill C-12 will result in a refugee system that is more inefficient, more arbitrary, less fair and less humane.” “The bill should not be allowed to pass into law in its current form,” he concluded.

Eisen spoke as a witness at the meeting of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, on the subject matter of Parts 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Bill C-12, Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act. He appeared in a panel along with the Canadian Council for Refugees Co-Executive Director Gauri Sreenivasan; the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers Vice President, Adam Bercovitch Sadinsky; the Refugee Centre’s Director of Federal Government Relations, Alina Murad; and the Refugee Centre’s Legal Administrator, Jessica Ranger.

Watch Eisen’s full declaration in this video:

Video: Senate of Canada

See the whole meeting of the Committee here.

Read also: FCJ Refugee Centre Advocates Before House of Commons Committees for the Withdrawal of Bill C-12

As a part of our Uprooted Junior Program, FCJ Refugee Centre and Musicbox Children’s Charity are offering a new season of free music classes, hosted by skilled volunteers that speak several languages.

Come build musical foundations through fun, educational and engaging activities!

Open to kids 6-12.

Where:

• In-person at the FCJ Refugee Centre
  208 Oakwood Ave.
  Toronto, ON M6E 2V4

Group lessons:

• Thursdays 4:00-5:00 pm
• Ongoing until April 2, 2026

For more information, please contact:
uprooted@fcjrefugeecentre.org

Starting May 1, 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will introduce co-payments for supplemental health products and services for eligible people (beneficiaries) covered under the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), meaning that refugee claimants will have to co-pay for some of their health-care coverage.

First established in 1957, the IFHP provides limited and temporary coverage for urgent and essential health products and services for eligible beneficiaries until they transition to provincial or territorial health care programs.

A co-payment (or co-pay) is the portion of the cost of supplemental health services and products that an eligible client (also called an IFHP beneficiary) will pay directly to their IFHP-registered health-care provider. The IFHP pays the remaining amount, meaning the cost of supplemental health benefits is shared between the beneficiary and the Government of Canada.

The decision, included in the 2025 Budget, was confirmed this Tuesday by the federal government.

What’s changing

• For prescription medication, beneficiaries will pay $4 per eligible prescription filled and/or refilled.
• For all other supplemental health benefits, beneficiaries will pay 30% of the cost of eligible services and products. Supplemental coverage covers extended health care like psychologists and counselling therapists; occupational therapists; physiotherapists and speech language therapists; assistive devices like prosthetics, mobility aids and hearing aids; home care and long-term care; urgent dental care and limited vision care; and medical supplies and equipment

Beneficiaries covered by the IFHP will be asked to pay these amounts directly to their health care providers when they receive IFHP-eligible supplemental products or services.

What’s still covered

• Basic health care benefits, including doctor visits and hospital care, will remain fully covered under the IFHP, with no co-payments required.
• Pre-departure medical services and immigration medical examinations are also fully covered and free-of-charge to IFHP eligible beneficiaries.

Keep in mind

• IFHP co-payments apply to supplemental health services and products received on or after midnight (12:01am local time) on May 1, 2026. Co-payments do not apply to benefits received before that date and time.
• Before receiving care, IFHP eligible beneficiaries should ask their health-care providers how much they will need to pay for supplemental health services and products.
• IFHP eligible beneficiaries continue to pay for any costs that exceed the limits reimbursed by the IFHP.

Advocates criticized the measure, pointing out that full access to supplemental care, especially for things such as dental health and trauma counselling, is crucial to this vulnerable population. “Four dollars doesn’t sound like a lot, but we have many patients who are on four or five, six medications because they’re diabetic and hypertensive,” said to the Toronto Star Dr. Meb Rashid, medical director at The Crossroads Clinic in Toronto, which provides comprehensive medical services to refugees.

In a statement released this Tuesday, IRCC indicated that introducing co-payments “will help keep supplemental health care accessible for eligible beneficiaries while responsibly managing growing demand.” “This change supports the long-term sustainability of the IFHP so it can continue providing essential support to current and future beneficiaries,” it added.

Learn more:

• Changes to the Interim Federal Health Program (IRCC)
• Canada will require refugees and asylum seekers to co-pay for health care starting in May (Toronto Star)
• Interim Federal Health Program