We should be outraged by this

I am glad people are outraged by this.

When Felipe Montoya applied three years ago to become a permanent resident of Canada with his wife and two children, he ran into those barriers. One of Montoya’s children, his son Nicolas, has Down syndrome, a condition that prompted Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to determine that Montoya and family may be inadmissible on health grounds. Montoya, a native of Costa Rica, has been a professor of environmental studies at York University for the past four years. As numerous news stories have reported, on March 3 he received a letter from CIC — signed, “Sincerely, DO877” — saying that “it appears that you or your family member may not meet the requirements for immigration to Canada.”

The letter from D0877, following wording dictated by bureaucratic form letters, continues: “I have determined that your family member Nicolas Montoya is a person whose health condition might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demands on social services in Canada. An excessive demand is demand for which the anticipated costs exceed the average Canadian per capita health and social services costs, which is currently set at $6,387 per year. Pursuant to subsection 38(1) … of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, it therefore appears that you may be inadmissible on health grounds.” The reason: “Your family member, Nicolas Montoya, has the following medical condition: Down’s syndrome.”

We should also be outraged that this same mentality–children who are different are too difficult and too expensive–encourages the vast majority of women to abort their children when they receive a prenatal diagnosis of a genetic abnormality.

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