Canada has a universal health care system, but in reality it is not.

Only Canadian citizens or permanent residents can continually access this universal healthcare system.

This is unfair.

In Canada, healthcare access is tied to your immigration status. This means that a basic right like healthcare is denied to 1 in 23 people in Canada. Canada has a very complex immigration system that is made up of various permanent - and increasingly temporary - immigration pathways. Depending on the pathway people come under or which immigration status they have now, people might:

01

Be able to access provincial healthcare insurance 1. continuously if renewed, or 2. for a limited time depending on the validity of their immigration status and/or if they are employed.

02

Be able to access private health insurance if provided by their employer or if enrolled at a university or college.

03

Not be able to access provincial or private healthcare insurance at all, but there may be community centres, such as community health centres or uninsured clinics available nearby.

Portrait of a woman with curly hair wearing a striped T-Shirt and blue overalls.
A man wearing a black baseball hat, holding a young child wearing a green shirt.

What does healthcare access look like for permanent residents, people with temporary status, or undocumented people?

Side portrait of a diverse black woman standing in front of a graffiti wall.
Portrait of a man with a moustache looking off into the distance.