http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1034619&tp=1

February 18, 2016—Ottawa, ON – All refugees and asylum claimants will soon benefit from full health-care coverage through a restored Interim Federal Health Program, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, John McCallum, announced today.

Starting April 1, 2016, the Interim Federal Health Program will provide health-care coverage for all eligible beneficiaries – including basic, supplemental, and prescription drug coverage. Similar to provincial/territorial health-care insurance, the coverage will include hospital and physician services. Coverage for supplemental health-care services, such as vision and urgent dental care, and for prescription drugs, will be similar to what the provinces and territories provide to Canadians who receive social assistance.

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April 2, Toronto Star

Anthony Rozario can smile about his subsidized apartment now, but the Bangladeshi father and his wife used to share a small Scarborough apartment with three adult children. At times, they also shared their already crowded dwelling with other families, converting available space into bedrooms. Space was tight but so was their budget, with their $900-a-month rent eating up half the family’s monthly income. Up until February, Rosario and his wife, Mary, were still sharing their two-bedroom apartment with his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. “It’s tough to live with so many people in so little space, but you are bound to live like this when you don’t have money,” said Rosario, 61, a bakery chef, who two months ago finally moved into a subsidized seniors’ apartment after four years on the waiting list. But a new study on immigrant housing warns that thousands of newcomers continue to live in “hidden homelessness” — in shared, overcrowded housing — an issue that has grown more acute, especially in Toronto, where affordable rental units are in short supply.

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Toronto Star. Published On Wed Mar 14 2012 Nicholas Keung Immigration Reporter

Caught up in the immigration backlog to sponsor her mom and dad to Canada permanently, Emma Canizales was thrilled to learn of Ottawa’s new visa to facilitate her parents’ visits. The so-called Super Visa allows eligible individuals to travel in and out of Canada to visit their family here over a 10-year period — with up to two years for each stay — while their sponsorship applications are processed.

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Laurie Monsebraaten, The Star, 5 Sep. 2011

Kelsang had been out of work for two months and was desperate when she accepted a job last February at Babaz, a west-end Toronto fast-food restaurant that specializes in Middle Eastern food. She agreed to work for $10 an hour chopping vegetables, making falafels and operating the cash, even though she knew she would be earning less than Ontario’s $10.25 minimum wage. But the Tibetan immigrant who has lived and worked in Canada for more than a decade was shocked when her first pay was delivered to her in cash — without any paperwork showing payroll deductions — and amounted to just $450. She was owed at least $700.

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