Finance committee  The difference is that refugee claimants are covered for health care by an alternative, or they were until those were cut. I don't really think that this is a necessary comparison.

Finance committee  Well, we're not talking about health care—

Finance committee  No, social assistance is paying for rent—

Finance committee  Yes, those two things are very different, though. When health care was enacted to have the three-month residency requirements in Ontario for OHIP, for example, there was an alternative provision for the interim federal health care program, which provided health care from a fede

Finance committee  The provinces have confirmed that they haven't asked for this.

Finance committee  Well, the thing that is different is that the refugee system is a federally regulated system. That is why in health care there has been, and now will continue to be, a federal program for providing health care. This is a national standard that should be in place to ensure that re

Finance committee  I don't agree that it seems like a reasonable approach to that situation.

Finance committee  We're not talking about the health care act here—

Finance committee  It would affect people who were rejected, but this provision would also affect people who are awaiting their refugee hearing. Fifty-five per cent of refugee claims are accepted, so it would affect people who are determined to be convention refugees.

Finance committee  I would definitely agree that's probably where it comes from, and a few months ago the Federal Court ruled that it was cruel and unusual treatment.

Finance committee  I mean the cuts to refugee health care. If it's in line with that decision-making on legislation, then I really don't see this as being any different.

Finance committee  They would need to seek shelter in homeless shelters, which are already overburdened—we get emergency phone calls every day for people for whom there are no rooms in emergency shelters—or they'll end up on the streets.

Finance committee  Thank you. My name is Jenn McIntyre. I am the director of a Toronto-based organization called Romero House and I am here today to express serious concerns regarding clauses 172 and 173 proposed in Bill C-43. Romero House is a non-profit organization in the west end of Toronto t