Study shows birth tourism much more prevalent in Canada than reported by StatCan
A new study shows that the number of births in Canada by nonresidents, known as “birth tourism,” is much higher than previously reported by Statistics Canada.
READ MORE: Feds studying birth tourism after new data shows it is more common than previously reported
The study was done by Andrew Griffith for Policy Options, a policy think-tank.
Griffith explored the number of births through hospital discharge data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), rather than Statistics Canada’s data, which is derived from birth registrations.
What he found was that the level of birth tourism nationally in Canada is at least five times greater than the 313 births recorded by Statistics Canada in 2016, sitting at 3,223.
WATCH: Conservatives look to end birth tourism in Canada
Statistics Canada’s data also showed the number of births by nonresidents decreased since 2012, but Griffith’s data shows it is steadily increasing.
Under current Canadian law, anyone who is born on Canadian soil receives citizenship, even if your parents aren’t Canadian citizens, but there has been concern that some are taking advantage of the law by flying to Canada specifically to secure citizenship for their children.
The Conservative Party of Canada voted to end the birthright citizenship policy at a party convention in August, making it likely a part of the party’s campaign platform in 2019. U.S. President Donald Trump has also announced a plan to end birth tourism in the U.S.
READ MORE: Conservatives want to end ‘birth tourism’ in Canada — but what exactly is the contested issue?
The federal government has announced that they are investigating birth tourism after the release of Griffith’s report.
The hospital discharge data Griffith reported is based on services provided to “nonresidents,” which are coded in hospital financial data as “other country resident self-pay.”
However, Griffith notes that temporary residents, such as corporate transferees and international students, as well as Canadian expatriates returning to give birth in Canada, are also included in the data for nonresidents, which may make the number deduced higher than what is actual birth tourism.
WATCH: Last day for ‘birth tourism’ petition
Refugee claimants and permanent residents who are within the three-month waiting period for coverage are not considered nonresidents.
The data shows the most births to mothers who reside outside of Canada were in Ontario at 2,524 births in 2017, or 1.8 per cent of the province’s total births, followed by British Columbia at 689 births in 2017, or 1.5 per cent. In total, according to hospital data, birth tourism represented 1.2 per cent of total births in Canada, or 3,628 births.
The hospital with the most nonresident births is The Richmond Hospital in B.C., which has previously been reported as the epicentre of birth tourism in Canada. A petition from Richmond, B.C. that began in March received over 10,000 signatures calling on the federal government to end birth tourism, and received the support of Liberal MP Joe Peschisolido.
The second hospital with the most nonresident births is the Scarborough and Rouge Hospital in Ontario, with 163 nonresident births.
Griffith says in his report that the discrepancy between Statistics Canada’s data and the data he collected is likely due to birth tourists using their real addresses for hospital payments, but their temporary Canadian addresses on birth registration forms.
The report outlines three different solutions for birth tourism.
The first is to make birth tourism grounds for visitor visa refusal, and can be identified by including a question about intent to give birth on the visitor visa, and any person who has not declared this as the purpose of their visit could be found guilty of fraud, making the child’s citizenship fraudulent.
READ MORE: ‘Birth tourism’ uses Canadian hospitals to make non-resident babies into citizens: petition
Second, to introduce qualified birthright citizenship similar to what Australia did in 2007, which could specify that a person born in Canada is a Canadian citizen only if the parent is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and if the child has lived in Canada for 10 years after birth.
Finally, the report suggests financial action against nonresidents attempting birth tourism to discourage it, such as hospitals requesting substantial deposits from nonresidents.
.....................................................
Birth tourism growing issue in Canada
November 16, 2018
There were 102 babies born to surrogate moms in British Columbia in 2016 and 2017.
Of those, 45 were babies for parents from other countries.
Parents who travelled here to have their child delivered in Canada, who before they left picked up a Canadian citizenship for their child and who left Canadian taxpayers with the bills for the pregnancy of their surrogate mom as well as costs for the delivery and postnatal care of their newborn.
We know this thanks to reporting by freelance Globe and Mail writer Alison Motluk, who earlier this month wrote about Canada increasingly becoming a destination for international surrogacy.
It’s understandable that foreign parents, especially those who may need to turn to surrogacy to have a child, would find Canada and a bonus Canadian citizenship for their child attractive.
Surrogacy is prohibited in many countries and few countries permit surrogacy for non-residents, let alone pay for costs associated with the surrogate mom’s pregnancy, delivery and postnatal care costs.
Without doubt, some of those parents are likely desperate to have children and may have few options. On compassionate grounds, their desire to seek surrogacy here may be compelling.
However, an open-door policy for birth tourism is also troubling.
Why is citizenship being handed out to the children of birth tourists as a going away prize?
Citizenship is a privilege, something often earned at great cost and difficulty for the many millions of Canadians who immigrated to this country and made it their home.
Why on earth should Canadian taxpayers foot the hospital bills for foreign couples who want to have their babies in this country – $3,000 to $6,000 for uneventful births to potentially more than $90,000 for premature babies with complications?
Is birth tourism something we should be encouraging?
And although B.C. tracks residency data on parents, other provinces don’t.
So we’re not even sure of the scope of birth tourism in this country, let alone its costs.
As Brian Lilley wrote in the Sun on this issue, Real Women of Canada wants Ottawa to close loopholes that permit taxpayer subsidization for foreign surrogacy – something many European countries have already done.
Without such change, there’s little doubt Canada increasingly will become a destination for birth tourism.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments always welcome!