German woman challenges Immigration Act in landmark
case
By Peter Small
Ron Poulton, making final arguments
in a landmark constitutional challenge in a Toronto court, argued that
medical officers who examine immigrant applicants have trouble determining
what exactly "excessive demand" on the system is.
"It reflects the vagueness of the
term," Poulton argued. "It doesn't give notice to somebody in clear terms
of what they have to prove or not."
Poulton represents Angela Chesters,
44, a German with two master's degrees and diverse work experience who
is married to a Canadian citizen. She was denied landed immigrant status
in 1994. She had developed multiple sclerosis in 1991 and uses a wheelchair.
Her challenge of section 19 (1) of
the Immigration Act, which excludes immigrants deemed likely to cause an
"excessive demand on health and social services" is the first of its kind.
Chesters was allowed to stay on a
minister's permit in 1995 and was granted a one-year renewable work authorization,
but with no guarantees for the future.
"She was devastated," Poulton said.
Angry at her treatment and frustrated
by her uncertain employment status, Chesters returned to Germany in 1995
to take a teaching job.
Poulton told Madame Justice Elizabeth
Heneghan that rejection based solely on one's disability has a "profound
effect on the psychological integrity of a disabled person," and breaches
Canadian Charter rights to life, liberty and the security of the person.
The rejected immigrant "is relegated unequivocally to the status of other."
Earlier, federal lawyer Ann Margaret
Oberst argued that the court should not render its decision in the case
because the issue, for Chesters, will soon be moot. Amendments to the Immigration
Act that exempt spouses of Canadians from the excessive demand rules have
been passed and are likely to come into force in June, she said.
Justice Heneghan reserved her decision,
saying she would like to hear all the arguments first.
Chesters' lawyers' final arguments
continue today, followed by the government's.
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Toronto Star Staff reporter
Canada's rejection of disabled immigrants
because they may place a burden on the health system ignores what these
people can contribute to society, a lawyer argued yesterday.