Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel joined a growing list of Jewish leaders who are calling on Canada to reverse changes to legislation that denies health care to refugee claimants.

In a letter released last week to the Globe and Mail newspaper, Wiesel said he supports the Toronto Board of Rabbis, which has called on Canada’s federal government to abandon the changes, which end most health benefits to certain refugees.

“As a former refugee, together with the Toronto Board of Rabbis, I feel morally compelled to remain on the side of other uprooted men and women everywhere,” Wiesel wrote. “Today, as yesterday, a nation is judged by its attitude towards refugees.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The Globe noted that Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner, was a keynote speaker two years ago at a conference on anti-Semitism in Ottawa that was organized with the help of Canadian immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who is behind the refugee reforms.

Under the changes that took effect June 30, all benefits and payments for supplemental medical treatment formerly provided by the federal government are denied to refugees who come from a country that Canada deems “safe.” The list of countries has yet to be announced, but it is expected to include Hungary, and critics say the changes target Roma refugees.

In an unusual move for a group that rarely speaks out on political issues, the Toronto Board of Rabbis wrote Prime Minister Stephen Harper on June 18 urging him to drop the measure.

Last month, three prominent members of the Jewish community, including a former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, published a letter in the Globe pointing out parallels between the law and earlier measures designed to keep Jews out of the country.

Similarly, in a column in the Gazette, the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre urged Ottawa “to apply these new reforms with extreme caution, given the resurgence of racist and anti-Semitic threats in certain European countries.”

Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said his organization agrees with many of the changes that the Conservative government has made to refugee policy intended to prevent bogus claims. But with regard to the health benefits, he said that “we have some concerns, and we have registered some of them with the government.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount