Budget 2025 demonstrates a weak commitment to expanding and improving public health care and little vision to end the crisis facing millions of Canadians who can't access the care they need. Here are 4 things you need to know:

Canada’s #Budget2025 includes plans to “introduce a modest co-payment model” to the Interim Federal Health Program for “supplemental health products or services (such as prescription medication and dental care).” In plain terms, this means cutting healthcare benefits for refugees and asylum seekers.

Join @ottawahealthlaw.ca Oct 2–3 for a national conference: Reframing Mental Health Law: Emerging Controversies and Cross-Sector Perspectives. Keynotes: @Kwame_McKenzie & Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt. Student rates available. Hope to see you there! www.ottawahealthlaw.ca/conferences/...

This winter I was privileged to partake in a working group led by N4 (National Newcomer Navigation Network) that aimed to improve health equity for users of the Interim Federal Health Program. The final report, with a list of recommendations, can be found here: www.yybrandonchen.com/_files/ugd/2...

The so-called “Strong Borders Act” will significantly weaken Canada’s humanitarian tradition and commitment to human rights. Check out this statement from Canadian Council for Refugees:

Supreme Court of Canada is scheduled to hear the Kanyinda case in 2 weeks. I'm honoured to act as counsel for @fcjrefugeecentre.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy & @madhucentre.bsky.social in their joint intervention. We argue the Canadian Charter must meaningfully protect substantive equality of migrants.

Today, on Refugee Rights Day, the HIV Legal Network joins advocates across the country in reiterating its call to Canada to end immigration detention and uphold the right to health for all. Read more: www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/today-i...

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! On June 10-12, 2025, the @uodroitpublaw.bsky.social, the @umontreal.ca and @schulichlaw.bsky.social will hold an academic conference to mark the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada. Conference and registration details here: lnkd.in/esKJMbqR. Join us!

Gabriel Allahdua, with the Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers, is sharing insights on advocating for the rights and well-being of migrant workers. A crucial conversation on the culture of silence and migrant labour rights! #MigrantRights #CHLPE #WorkersRights

Kerian Burnett is sharing her powerful journey as a former migrant worker and cancer survivor. Her story sheds light on the challenges of accessing healthcare. A truly impactful and inspiring presentation! Join the @ottawahealthlaw sponsored event. #MigrantRights #HealthcareAccess #CHLPE

Happening now! Stacey Gomez, Executive Director of the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights in Nova Scotia, is presenting @ottawahealthlaw sponsored event. Don’t miss her insights on migrant worker health advocacy and social justice! 🌎✊ #MigrantRights #CHLPE #SocialJustice

Spoke to CBC News about the health care insecurity of Iranian newcomers who are in Quebec under a temporary immigration policy. /1 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Honoured to be part of this event to dissect the current state of Medicare. Will take this opportunity to push for a more inclusive Medicare for migrants.

Feb 25th! Migrant Workers' Right to Health Care. Come join this panel moderated by the brilliant @yybrandonc.bsky.social in Fauteux Hall Room 359 at 11:30am.

Share some love AND support the HIV Legal Network this Valentine’s Day! Let the people you love know how much you value them and how deeply you care about human rights by sending a Valentine’s Day message through the HIV Legal Network. www.gifttool.com/donations/Do...

Kerian Burnett was diagnosed with cancer when working as a migrant farm worker. She was denied health coverage and she also lost her job because of her health condition. On Feb. 25, she tells us her experience & the impressive work involved in her successful advocacy for migrant healthcare. Join us!

Honoured to be a part of #SOSMedicare2025 Conference in Ottawa, to stand up for public health care and support frontline workers. Hope you can join us on Feb. 24-25! 💪🏽🏥 sosmedicare.ca

Oh, look: The thing that Canadian immigration law experts said would happen, happened Closing safe routes for asylum seekers doesn't reduce the number of asylum seekers. It increases irregular movement, enriches smugglers & puts lives at risk www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

Donate to the HIV Legal Network between now and December 31, 2024 and your dollars will be doubled thanks to Andrew Beckerman and Charlie’s Challenge! www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/donate/...

Today is December 1. World AIDS Day. Unfortunately, we can’t hide our disappointment and frustration on this World AIDS Day. Please see our World AIDS Day message at this link: www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/this-is...

The Canadian government built and owns a fully licensed, biologics manufacturing site that is sitting idle and has produced nothing for years. @healthlawadamh.bsky.social and I think this is a solid opportunity for Canada to close gaps in access to medicines for which there is a market failure. 🩺🧪

@shaunalabman.bsky.social and I wrote a thing!

Come and join us next Wednesday (Dec. 4) at The 519 in Toronto for a workshop and discussion on the Interim Federal Health Program!

I was quoted in this CBC article re: the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), which provides important health coverage to refugees & refugee claimants. www.cbc.ca/news/politic... Largely, the news report accurately reflects what I said. But the quote at the end requires some contextualization. /1

"Governing Reproduction: Exploring Law and Politics” is underway! In our first panel, Joanna Erdman, Véronique Pronovost, Kelly Gordon, and Elena Caruso discuss the legal issues and politics surrounding abortion.

The Canadian Law and Society Association annual conference will be held next June 11-13 in Saskatoon! Please share with your networks.

Op ed on encampments and notwithstanding clause threat. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

One week away! Join us @ottawahealthlaw on Wed 25 Sep (11-1) for a book launch of "Pandemics, Public Health and the Regulation of Borders", feat. free lunch and short talks by contributing authors. Register at:

The formal launch of "Pandemics, Public Health and the Regulation of Borders" is just a month away! Co-edited by @ColleenFlood2 @deonandan @SophieTheriaul7 Sam Halabi @oneillinstitute and me, the book examines boundaries drawn between/within countries for public health purposes.

Honoured to have had the opportunity back in June to speak at the Canada Health Act at 40 symposium organized by @HealthCoalition. I argue, like many others have done, waiting periods for people moving/returning from abroad should be eliminated.

Josue woke up from a coma in hospital only to find Ontario’s Physician and Hospital Services for Uninsured Persons (PHSUP) program had ended last March; he is now stuck with nearly $90k in hospital bills. A short thread. 1/

Here in Taipei, the past 24 hours felt like we were literally on shaky grounds with tremors occurring every so often. I can only imagine how challenging life must be for folks living in Hualien, the heart of all these seismic activities since Apr 3. Sending positive thoughts 🙏🏼

Come one, come all: My awesome colleague & friend @lade_abeji @WCHResearch is putting together a fantastic hybrid event - "Beyond Technology, Beyond Healthcare" - to explore the intersection of tech and healthcare for newcomers to Canada. Check it out!

Quick 🧵 on eligibility for the just-announced Canada Dental Care Plan: Notably, eligibility is partly based on Canadian residency, as defined for tax purposes. This differs from how residency is defined in the context of qualifying for provincial/territorial health insurance /1

Hearty congratulations to my better half on his successful PhD defence @TorontoMet today on the most fascinating subject of “Attracting immigrants to smaller and remote Canadian communities”. You rock, Dr. Marc Valade!!

As call continues in some corners of US for a China travel ban due to respiratory infections among children, it seems timely to share the forthcoming publication of our book: “Pandemics, Public Health and the Regulation of Borders: Lessons from #COVID19”

A helpful report from the Health Network for Uninsured Clients capturing reasons why @ONThealth decision to end funding for hospital and physician services for the uninsured is a poor policy move. #healthcare4all

Looking forward to this discussion!

I truly have the best job! Many thanks to my amazing public/constitutional law small group students who flattered me today with this highly idealized figurine. I wouldn’t mind a life-sized cardboard cutout next time, just saying. 😂

Join us at our Borders & Pandemics conference! One panel I’m helping to organize will look at barriers to healthcare goods & services during #COVID19 pandemic ft. @sarahlazin @jwnickerson @HealthLawAdamH @MSF #publichealth #globalhealth #abortion #vaccine

Jamaican migrant workers in Ontario pen open letter likening conditions to 'systematic slavery' | CBC News

Are thousands of uninsured people about to lose health coverage in Ontario? Fears grow about end to COVID-era OHIP rules via @torontostar #health4all

California poised to extend healthcare coverage to all low-income, undocumented persons. At present, California already provides coverage to low-income undocumented persons under 26 and over 50. #Health4All

"Amid pandemic uncertainties, 14% [of Canadians] reported having lost prescription drug coverage. Women, racialized people, and low- and middle-income households were least likely to have adequate coverage, and more likely to not fill their prescriptions."

My cynical take: this awful situation is exactly what gov intended; as much as the Parent & Grandparent Super Visa is meant to skirt PGP processing backlog, it is an instrument of "responsibilization" aiming to disentitle migrants from healthcare.

In my latest publication, I summarized international law's protection of migrants' sexual & reproductive health rights and discussed implications for migrant-receiving states and health practitioners.

A timely article by amazing colleagues on this #UniversalHealthCoverageDay -- "Immigration Status as the Foundational Determinant of Health for People Without Status in Canada" by Monica Gagnon @Nisha_Kansal @RitikaGoelTO Denise Gastaldo

This gem just arrived in the mail. Many thanks to @catherine_regis, Jean-Louis Denis & @DanielWeinsto17 for the invitation to be part of this wonderful collection and a chance to reflect on the impact of #COVID19 border restrictions on refugee protection.

Ottawa folks, if you know anyone that may benefit from the support of the Indigenous Human Rights Legal Clinic, please share the attached contact info with them. 🙏

Congratulations to all @uocommonlaw students who are graduating this morning! 🥳Thank you for our time spent in and outside classrooms. I can’t wait to see all the amazing things you will accomplish in the next chapter of your professional career. Please keep in touch.