U of M students’ union holds rally at legislature to get answers on health-care coverage for international members

International students are demanding to know when they can be assured an emergency hospital stay won’t bankrupt them.

The University of Manitoba Students’ Union organized a rally outside the legislature on the first day of the fall session to call on the NDP to provide a timeline for when it plans to fulfil a two-year-old campaign promise.

Hannah Le, who is originally from Vietnam, had to pay up front and seek a reimbursement from her private insurance provider when she injured herself last year.

“It was $120 — just for the nurse to come in and check my knee, and I was staying (at the hospital) for a few days,” said Le, UMSU’s vice-president student life.

Le said some of her peers have been turned away from local clinics that accept only Manitoba Health cards since they lost universal health-care coverage in 2018.

Student-visa holders accounted for half of a small crowd that gathered on the steps of the legislature Wednesday.

Their message? “Health has no borders.”’

In the leadup to the last election, then-Opposition leader Wab Kinew pledged to reverse numerous health-care cuts made by former premier Brian Pallister’s Progressive Conservatives.

Manitoba Health stopped covering international students’ medical bills in 2018. In defence of the policy change, Pallister indicated it would result in $3.1 million in annual savings. In 2025, that’s the equivalent of about $3.8 million.

“That’s pennies in the provincial budget,” said Prabhnoor Singh, a Canadian student who is the president of the largest undergraduate students’ union in Manitoba.

Singh said the status-quo is a serious equity and fairness problem that makes his peers from other countries feel unwelcome in Manitoba.

“(The NDP) ran on improving health care. Why is there this double standard for international students?” he added.

Non-citizen scholars, some of whom want to stay put on the Canadian Prairies after graduation, now pay hundreds of dollars for insurance annually. U of M students pay roughly $1,400 for 12 months worth of health insurance.

It’s another costly expense for students whose tuition is roughly four times higher than what residents pay.

The Manitoba Liberals’ outgoing interim leader, Cindy Lamoureux, attended the rally to reiterate her longtime support.

“We’re asking for a timeline and the answer that we’re getting is: ‘We’re working towards it,’” Singh said, noting he’s met with numerous cabinet ministers and MLAs in recent months.

The premier echoed those comments — almost verbatim — during a scrum with reporters after question period.

“We’re working on it… We, in government, have made it clear that when we say we’re going to do something, we do it,” Kinew said.

He cited the NDP gas tax cuts and the successful landfill searches that have taken place halfway through its first term.

UMSU advocates on behalf of more than 27,000 undergraduate students at the largest post-secondary institute in the province.

There were 6,085 international students enrolled at U of M at the start of the fall term.

That number, which includes graduate scholars, represents a 5.4 per cent year-over-year drop (approximately 350 fewer overall international students on campus).

International post-secondary enrolment figures have been trending downwards across Canada, owing to a shift in federal immigration policy.

“Efforts are underway to strengthen international recruitment and support services to ensure the university remains a destination of choice for students around the world,” U of M administration said in recent a statement posted to its website.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca