Human rights consequences of mandatory HIV screening policy of newcomers to Canada

Health and Human Rights

Volumn 12, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 119-134

  Bisaillon, Laura M ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

HEALTH POLICY; HEALTH SERVICES; HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS; HUMAN RIGHTS; IMMIGRANT; POLICY APPROACH; SERVICE PROVISION;

ARTICLE; CANADA; HUMAN; HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS INFECTION; HUMAN RIGHTS; MANDATORY PROGRAM; MASS SCREENING; MIGRATION; POLICY; REFUGEE;

CANADA; EMIGRANTS AND IMMIGRANTS; HIV INFECTIONS; HUMAN RIGHTS; HUMANS; MANDATORY PROGRAMS; MASS SCREENING; PUBLIC POLICY; REFUGEES;

CANADA;

EID: 78650763988     PISSN: 10790969     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (117)

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29. T. M. Bailey, T. Caulfield, and N. M. Ries, Public health law and policy in Canada (Markham: LexisNexis Canada, 2005).
30. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (see note 6), n.p. Note
31. Ibid.
32. D. Dodge Deputy Minister, Health Canada, "Letter to Janice Cochrane, Deputy Minister, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 10 August 2000," cited in A. Klein, HIV/AIDS and immigration: Final report (Toronto: Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2001), p. 2. Available at http://www.aidslaw.ca/publications/interfaces/downloadFile.php?ref=853.
33. Angus Reid Group, Migrant screening. Final report (Ottawa; Health Canada, 1999);
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35. Klein (see note 19). Note
36. On these principles and guidelines, see UN Commission on Human Rights, The Siracusa Principles on the Limitation and Derogation Provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 28 September 1984, E/CN.4/1985/4. Available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4672bc122.html; Note
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38. T. De Bruyn, Personal communication (April 11, 2008);
39. R. Jürgens, Personal communication (March 27, 2008);
40. Klein (see note 19). Note
41. Klein (see note 19), p. 3. Note
42. Sources for the noted elaborations and quote in Table 1 are as follows: a) Hoffmaster and Schrecker (see note 1); b) Public Health Agency of Canada, HIV testing and counselling: Policies in transition? (Ottawa: Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2006); Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada (see note 48); Note
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46. Gostin and Mann (see note 8); and Hoffmaster and Schrecker (see note 1); Note.
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54. With the exception of note g), all informant experiences listed in Table 1 are drawn from fieldwork. Note
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56. Canadian Public Health Association, Leading together: Canada takes action on HIV/AIDS, 2005- 2010 (Ottawa: CPHA, 2005). Available at http://www.leadingtogether.ca/pdf/Leading_Together.pdf.
57. Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Access to Information and Privacy Division (July 5, 2010); see also, D. A. Falconer, Springboarding a national HIV/AIDS strategy for Black Canadian, African and Caribbean communities project: Environmental scan report (Ottawa: Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development, 2005). Available at http://www.icad-cisd.com/content/pdf/Springboarding%20a%20National%20Strategy%20for%20Black%20Canadian,%20Afric.pdf; see also, Réseau des chercheures africaines, Santé et droits des femmes francophones de minorités raciales et ethnoculturelles issues des pays où le VIH/sida est endémique (Toronto: Public Health Agency of Canada, n.d.). Note
58. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Access to Information and Privacy Division (May 12, 2008).
59. S. Weibe, "Producing bodies and borders: A review of immigrant medical examinations in Canada," Surveillance and Society 6 (2009), p. 135. Available at http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/ojs/index.php/journal/article/view/bodies/bodies.
60. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (see note 28). Note.
61. Coyte and Thavorn (see note 25). Note.
62. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (see note 28). Note.
63. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (see note 6). Note.
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76. Hanssens (see note 25). Note.
77. Gostin and Mann (see note 8). Note.
78. Hoffmaster and Schrecker (see note 1). Note.
79. Findings are based on data from interview, focus group and participant observation research with 33 PHA in Toronto and Montreal between fall 2009 and winter 2010. Twenty-nine informants were living with HIV and four were not. Among the former, one informant was born with HIV. Interviews were primarily conducted in English and French, with additional languages including Amharic, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Mongolian. Informants were citizens of 19 countries, and they all arrived in Canada since the HIV testing policy was introduced in 2002. Informants entered Canada under various categories: skilled workers, family members (including spouse and common law partners), Geneva Convention refugees, and refugee applicants. The majority of informants were from the refugee category. Some informants were humanitarian and compassionate ground applicants, and others were in the pre-removal risk assessment stage. In both cities, informants were recruited through AIDS service organizations, HIV clinics and word-ofmouth. Despite best efforts to locate PHA outside of Canada whose immigration applications had been denied, this population was unfortunately not part of the study. Second-level data were gathered through the review of official and informant documents, forms, and other publicly available texts, and 26 bilingual interviews in Toronto and Montreal with persons working with PHA informants: lawyers, immigration and HIV physicians, social workers, nurses, AIDS service organization case workers, shelter personnel, Canadian Border Services Agency employees, and government advisors and officials. 43. Zencovich et al. (see note 5). Note.
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81. For discussion see Coyte and Thavorn (see note 25). Note.
82. Hoffmaster and Schrecker (see note 1), p. 16. Note.
83. Childress et al. (see note 35); Note.
84. L. O. Gostin and Z. Lazzarini, Human rights and public health in the AIDS pandemic (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997);
85. Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network (see note 25). Note.
86. For the official practices and procedures associated with the Canadian immigration medical examination, including HIV testing and counseling, see Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, Handbook for designated medical practitioners (Ottawa: Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2009). Available at http://www.cic.gc.ca/English/pdf/pub/dmp-handbook2009.pdf.
87. Ibid. Post-test counseling guidelines appear on pp. v-1-2, and the acknowledgment form appears on p. vi-1.
88. See extensive commentary in Klein (see note 19). Note.
89. Public Health Agency of Canada, Strengthened leadership: Taking action: Canada's report on HIV/AIDS 2005 (Ottawa: Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2005). Available at http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/aids-sida/publication/reports/report05/pdf/wad2005-e-wo-mm.pdf.
90. Ibid.
91. On international legal instruments, Note.
92. Bailey et al. (see note 16); Coker (see note 13); and Gostin (see note 39). On the right to choose one's place of habitation on earth, Note.
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95. J. Kehler, "HIV testing editorial," AIDS Legal Quarterly (September 2006), pp. 2-6.
96. B. Kaufmann, "HIV no barrier to immigration," The Calgary Sun (March 20, 2008).
97. M. A. Somerville (ed), Do we care? Renewing Canada's commitment to health (Montréal: McGill- Queen's University Press, 1999).
98. Klein (see note 19). Note.
99. Hoffmaster and Schrecker (see note 1). Note.
100. Susser (see note 37). Note.
101. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (see note 28). Note.
102. D. W. MacPherson and B. D. Gushulak, "Human mobility and population health: New approaches in a globalizing world," Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 44 (2001), pp. 390-401;
103. Weibe (see note 30);
104. S. Wiebe, Designing bodies and borders: A review of biological screening in Canada, Masters thesis (2008).
105. Gostin and Mann (see note 8); Hoffmaster and Schrecker (see note 1); and Bisaillon (see note 9). Note.
106. N. Krieger, "Genders, sexes, and health: What are the connections - and why does it matter?" International Journal of Epidemiology 32 (2003), pp. 652-657;
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115. See country reports until August 2006. Available at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/reports.htm.
116. For current and historic activities on the Council, see http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/aids-sida/fi-if/minister-eng.php. Note.
117. Public Health Agency of Canada (see note 51).