Juana Tejada entered Canada in 2003 under the federal live-in program that grants permanent residency to people who work as domestic care-givers after three years of work. According to the Toronto Star In 2006, during an examination as part of her immigration application, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. The cancer has now spread and she now has Stage 4 lung cancer.

Though she knew that despite working in Canada she might not qualify for permanent residency status because of her illness, when she was initially diagnosed she asked that Immigration officials make an exception. After all, she had legally worked in Canada for three years, was gainfully employed until her illness, which is terminal, forced her to quit her job and go on disability insurance.

"I have paid my dues to earn my permanent residency. I have worked hard to try to give my family (her husband and six siblings) a better life," said Tejada, who has been apart from her family since 1995, when she began working abroad as a domestic. "I didn't want to have cancer. It is not my fault."

The response:

"While I am sympathetic to your situation, I am not satisfied that these circumstances justify granting an exemption," a case processing officer in Alberta wrote in the latest decision. "In the opinion of a medical officer, this health condition might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health and social services."

Tejada and her husband, who came from the Philippines to take care of her, have been ordered to leave Canada by August 8 of this year. Since the initial news report, there has been a flurry of letters and while many have been supportive of Tejada's case, some feel that if Canada allows for Tejada, who was told that only 5% of people diagnosed with stage 4 cancer survive five years, should be allowed to stay and continue her chemotherapy it will set a dangerous precedent for future appeals:

When a “foreign worker” gets sick it's time for them to be near their family and in their homeland. Our medical system is at or past its capacity dealing with just Canadian citizens.

But what do you do if your home country does not have the adequate treatment services? Tejada is reportedly from a small, rural village and left her country 13 years ago to support her family. Because she legally worked in Canada and paid taxes, doesn't she have the right to access treatment? She was allowed to access disability insurance, and her husband was granted a visitor's visa enter the country.

There are a number of troubling issues about this case. Despite Michael Moore's assertion in Sicko  that the Canadian health care system is one of the best in the world, the services are declining and Canadians are getting worried. Complaints about our immigration system have dramatically increased since 9/11 - partly because of increased security concerns, and partly because it allowed people to justify their xenophobia.

Bloggers like Pambansang think that one of the reasons why some feel that Canada should not make an exception is that Tejada eventually wanted to bring her family here - like many other newcomers to Canada:

They create laws so that they can use up our women, so that instead of having families, and changing our nation, they serve the snot nosed spoiled brat western children, and for what? The desperate chance at a better life, a life which now looks like it will be in jeopardy. How much respect these people have shown a hard dedicated worker, they will let her stay the last few months to work, then they will deport her. Had she been an Indian or Chinese they would have let her stay, but because Philippines are one of the more undesirable nations they will instead send her home.

Listing other questionable examples about Canada's (lack of) compassion, Rational Radical points out the case of Omar Khadr a Canadian citizen who has been languishing in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for over six years. There have been numerous reports over the years that he has been tortured. The Khadr family, who still reside outside of Toronto reportedly kept a house here for years, despite living primarily in Pakistan, wanted to keep their access to Canada's healthcare system, critical when Omar's father, a member of Al-Qaeda was critically injured in a battle in Pakistan and later when Omar's older brother was paralyzed while taking part in another terrorist attack. Omar, who was a child soldier in Afghanistan, is charged with the murder of an American soldier and despite his father having close ties with Osama bin Laden, it has been argued that the young man, clearly indoctrinated by his family's belief's, should be transferred to a Canadian prison:

And most other countries have fought to at least get their own residents out of Gitmo or other American-run prisons that are not recognized as legitimate penal institutions. We’ve done nothing. Now, if Omar had been an adult when this happened, I’d be singing a different tune. But there are international laws dictating how we treat (injured) child soldiers. Ironically, Canada has a long history of allowing terrorists and murderous warlords and their families to stay here, collecting welfare and sending the money back home (e.g., to Somalia) so they can buy more weapons with which to slaughter more innocent people. We are so messed up.

What do you think? I am trying to find out whether there is a fund set up to help to assist Tejada. When I find it - and I'm sure I will, I'll add it to the post.