Students and community members gathered outside of the Manitoba Legislative Building on Oct. 30 to call on the provincial government to reinstate healthcare coverage for international students, a promise they made that remains unfulfilled.
The rally, organized by UMSU and the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association (UWSA), aimed to remind the provincial government of international students’ struggle to accessible healthcare.
Noah Schulz, provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition (MHC), said the organization is committed to supporting students in their call for change.
“We’re a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group calling for an improved and expanded public healthcare system and combatting healthcare privatization,” Schulz said. “I’m here to support the students.”
Schulz argued the government’s current approach is unfair. “Healthcare is a human right,” he said. “It’s not a commodity. It should be, in a country that says we have universal healthcare, accessible to everyone who resides here.”
“It also doesn’t make economic sense to exclude international students, who contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to our economy, when it only saves a few million to exclude them from this public system,” Schulz said.
Although the government has previously said it is committed to restoring healthcare coverage, Schulz said students have been waiting too long for concrete action. “The government continues to say they are committed to this, and that’s great to hear, but the students are […] past ready for a clear timeline and an action plan,” he said. “The NDP promised they would restore it while in opposition and on the campaign trail. They need to make good on that promise.”
Schulz added that students need to keep up pressure on the provincial government. “Keep going […] We are not forgetting the promise that the government made.”
The rally also drew support from domestic students who see access to healthcare as a broader issue. Among them was Ayesha Raza, UWSA community liaison director.
“Healthcare for all isn’t really an issue that’s divided for just international students,” Raza said. “It’s a promise that our government made.”
Raza explained that all members of the UWSA board contributed to the event through participation, collaboration and solidarity. “I want to show that this fight isn’t just international students demanding healthcare,” she explained. “We have [MHC and] domestic students here who understand this is an issue that’s widespread across our province and affects everyone in some kind of way.”
Raza said she would tell the government officials that the time for waiting has passed. “You made a promise, and it’s time to deliver,” she said. “I know bureaucratic matters are not always the easiest to tackle, but, that being said, if it is an issue, frankly, that you could not 100 per cent deliver on then there was no reason to make a promise.”
She added that transparency is essential. “There’s also a lack of transparency,” Raza said. “I would like at least a bit of clarity when it comes to international student healthcare, as well as explaining how they’re going to be delivering those promises today.”
Omega Budhathoki, UWSA vice president of external affairs, said the rally was part of ongoing efforts to hold the Manitoba government accountable.
“We are still following through on the promise that Premier Wab Kinew made for international students on reinstating [their] healthcare after it was taken away by the PC government in 2018,” Budhathoki said. “They have been in office for half the term, and there has been no update, no timelines on how that [is] to be achieved.”
Budhathoki said costs for students are rising while healthcare remains out of reach. “Every year the premiums keep increasing,” she said. “It increased by 8.6 [per cent] this year, and those are mandatory insurance premiums. You have to get extended coverage on top of it, and it’s not looking good for students.”
As an international student herself, Budhathoki explained she has seen how the lack of public healthcare affects the community. “This has created a two-tiered system where healthcare is really hard to access, even though students are paying expensive amounts of money for premiums,” she said. “This has affected well-being in very grave ways. We have lost people [in our] communities [and] more students are struggling with their […] education.”
Budhathoki encouraged students to continue speaking out. “If you […] feel like you’re not supported, you don’t have a voice, you do,” she said. “We are out here trying to bring awareness [and] fight for what is right.”
