By: Valerie Hauch News reporter, Published on Thu Nov 28 2013
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Ellen Richardson went to Pearson airport on Monday full of joy about flying to New York City and from there going on a 10-day Caribbean cruise for which she’d paid about $6,000.
But a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent with the Department of Homeland Security killed that dream when he denied her entry.
“I was turned away, I was told, because I had a hospitalization in the summer of 2012 for clinical depression,’’ said Richardson, who is a paraplegic and set up her cruise in collaboration with a March of Dimes group of about 12 others.
The Weston woman was told by the U.S. agent she would have to get “medical clearance’’ and be examined by one of only three doctors in Toronto whose assessments are accepted by Homeland Security. She was given their names and told a call to her psychiatrist “would not suffice.’’
He cited the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 212, which denies entry to people who have had a physical or mental disorder that may pose a “threat to the property, safety or welfare’’ of themselves or others.
Richardson has also spoken to her lawyer, David McGhee, about what she believes to be a “breach of privacy’’ as well as an act of discrimination against people with mental health issues.
“The incident in 2012 was hospitalization for depression. Police were not involved,’’ McGhee said. “I’ve asked Deb Matthews to tell me if she’s aware of any provincial or federal authority to allow U.S. authorities to have access to our medical records. Medical records are supposed to be strictly confidential. ’’
U.S. authorities “do not have access to medical or other health records for Ontarians travelling to the U.S.,’’ said health ministry spokeswoman Joanne Woodward Fraser, adding the ministry could not provide any additional information.
車椅子の障がい者、米国への入国を拒否された、と。
外国への入国というのは権利ではなく、入国できないのが原則で、入国させてもらえる、という特権ですから、これは有り得る話ですが、その理由が、鬱で入院の履歴があるから、である、と。 国家はどんな人を入国させるか裁量権があるわけですが、アメリカではこういった基準があるわけでしょう。ただ、なんで、そのことを知っていたか、ということが問題にされています。プライバシーの侵害であり、また、精神疾患をもった人々に対する差別ではないか、とも。
