On Sep­tem­ber 4^th, UMFM stands in sol­i­dar­i­ty with Stu­dent Unions and Asso­ci­a­tions across the province of Man­tio­ba as they ral­ly against the provin­cial gov­ern­ments short-sight­ed deci­sion to with­draw inter­na­tion­al stu­dent health­care and sky­rock­et pre­mi­ums by over 100% begin­ning Fall 2019.

We are 100% in sup­port of the stu­den­t’s demands that the gov­ern­ment work with the region­al health author­i­ties to reduce the non-res­i­dent health care sur­charge back down from 200% to 75% imme­di­ate­ly and com­mit to re-instat­ing fund­ing for inter­na­tion­al stu­dent health­care in the ²⁰²⁰⁄₂₁ provin­cial bud­get. This deci­sion to cut health care and increase the cost of pre­mi­ums forces inter­na­tion­al stu­dents in Man­i­to­ba to pay among the high­est insur­ance pre­mi­ums in Cana­da.

There are over 18,000 inter­na­tion­al stu­dents in Man­i­to­ba, con­tribut­ing $400 mil­lion to the provin­cial econ­o­my each year. They are also the stu­dents fac­ing the most finan­cial hard­ship, pay­ing on aver­age three times the rate of tuition that domes­tic stu­dents pay, and are the most like­ly stu­dents to access stu­dent union hard­ship funds. With the removal of health care fund­ing, and the com­pound­ing sur­charge increase, inter­na­tion­al stu­dent health care pre­mi­ums are now entire­ly non­com­pet­i­tive nation­al­ly, and the rate per stu­dent is high­er in Man­i­to­ba than in British Colum­bia, Alber­ta and Saskatchewan com­bined.

We, and the inter­na­tion­al stu­dents across this province, demand that the gov­ern­ment reverse these poli­cies and earn back Manitoba’s rep­u­ta­tion as a top des­ti­na­tion province for inter­na­tion­al stu­dents by pro­vid­ing cost cer­tain­ty, qual­i­ty health care, and an afford­able and acces­si­ble edu­ca­tion.

Join us in our fight for equi­ty!

Sign our open let­ter today at: www​.cfsmb​.ca/​h​ealth

If you can’t attend the ral­ly, stu­dents have orga­nized an event at Fools & Hors­es (379 Broad­way) on August 21 from 8AM to 11AM when they will be col­lect­ing let­ters of support! 

We stand in sol­i­dar­i­ty with the fol­low­ing Stu­dent Unions and Asso­ci­a­tions across Man­i­to­ba:

• Cana­di­an Fed­er­a­tion of Stu­dents — Man­i­to­ba
• Bran­don Uni­ver­si­ty Stu­dents Union
• Red Riv­er Stu­dents’ Asso­ci­a­tion
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Man­i­to­ba Grad­u­ate Stu­dents’ Asso­ci­a­tion
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Man­i­to­ba Stu­dents’ Union
• Mus­lim Stu­dent Asso­ci­a­tion (MSA)
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Man­i­to­ba Bangladesh Stu­dent Asso­ci­a­tion (UMB­SA)
• Man­i­to­ba Inter­na­tion­al Bridg­ing Soci­ety (MIBS)
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Man­i­to­ba Inter­na­tion­al Stu­dent Orga­ni­za­tion (UMISO)
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Win­nipeg Stu­dents’ Association