In today's Globe and Mail poll, readers are asked whether or not Canada should accept immigrants who are HIV positive. The result: over 70% of respondents voted no.
This is truly sick. In many cases, people with HIV are seeking to immigrate to a country like Canada because here they can receive the medical treatment they need, treatement which may not be available in their home countries.
I can guess at the reasoning behind the no-voters: HIV positive immigrants are a drain on the health system, and they could potentially spread the disease to HIV negative Canadians. These are both valid concerns, but not, in my opinion, valid reasons to bar these people from coming to Canada. Any strain these immigrants would put on the health system would no doubt be offset by the contributions they would make to the economy. As well, some of these immigrants, or their family members, would likely end up working in the health industry.
As for spreading HIV, of course there is a risk. There is always a risk whenever anyone has sex/exchanges needles/etc with anybody, immigrant or not. Perhaps more importantly, these immigrants are already aware that they are HIV positive, and are aware of the precautions they have to take. Contrast this with the estimated 60,000 HIV positive Canadians, 30% of whom are unaware of their infections, and therefore unaware of the increased risk that they pose to their fellow Canadians.
All of this is, or at least should be secondary to one simple fact: these people did not ask to be infected with a deadly virus. They cannot be punished for simply having contracted a disease. By refusing HIV positive immigrants entry into Canada we would be treating them the same as we would dangerous criminals, and that is truly sick.
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4 comments:
You're right, barring someone from the country who would certainly put a drain on the health care system is a valid idea. It's not like some potentially dormant disease; it's an affliction that they will need to address and at whose cost? Yours? The born citizens of Canada don't even get a decent shake from the health care setup and you want to stretch it even further to include people who, thru choice or not, will need intensive care if not expensive drugs? Why?
These people didn't ask to be infected with this virus? Well somebody uninformed/ uneducated/ careless enough to get HIV in this day and age is easily uninformed/ uneducated/ careless enough to pass it on to others. Keep them the fuck out.
I have the perfect compromise, guys: we can re-route all the HIVers to Iraq! It's perfect. Everyone will simply assume they are gay and beat them to death, at no charge to anybody! That'll show those pinko terrorist fairies and their ungodly disease-spreading compassion. Activist judges. Liberal media bias.
i hate evil viruses. let these people in and help 'em out. we'll kick all the smokers outta their hospital beds.
i feel what you're saying about smokers!
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