From: Number 35 August, 1992 - Canadian Immigration Hotline

Tighter Health Checks Needed For Refugees

"Proposed legislation requiring medical examinations for refugee claimants does not go far enough, a Scarborough school trustee says. Sheila Churchmuch said in an interview yesterday that requiring refugee claimants to produce a medical certificate after two months in Canada does not meet her board's concern about the spead of disease among schoolchildren. A tuberculosis scare last year [caused by Somali illegals who had not yet been screened] prompted school officials to call for mandatory health examinations of families seeking refugee status. .. A spokesman for Employment and Immigration Canada said that legislation requiring medical tests was introduced in the House of Commons last month. ... 'The new law would require the department to give refugee claimants [illegals] a document so that they could have a medical examination and return it within 60 days of entry,' Gerry Mafire said. The legislation would not apply to refugee claimants who are already in the country." (Toronto Star, July 15, 1992)

Why not detain all illegals until, at the very least, a criminal background and medical check have been performed?