Imposing a mandatory HIV test would add to all these difficulties, delays and costs. In the case of HIV testing there are additional perils because of the impacts of a positive finding. In addition to the need for counselling, which it is not clear is always going to be available, the CCR is concerned about the possible harm to people living in countries with coercive laws and practices affecting HIV positive persons. In accepting as refugees some claimants whose claim was based on their HIV status, Canada has recognized that in some cases discrimination against persons with HIV reaches the level of persecution. It needs therefore to be recognized that imposing HIV testing on immigrants is likely in some cases to expose individuals to persecution.
Some prospective immigrants apply for permanent residence from within Canada.
Since mandatory testing on these people would be taking place here in Canada, the discriminatory nature of imposing the test on them and not other Canadians would be particularly visible. A significant proportion of those who apply within Canada are Convention Refugees so determined by the Immigration and Refugee Board and sponsored spouses. The former group is already exempt from medical inadmissibility and the government has announced its intention of exempting sponsored spouses and dependants from inadmissibility on the basis of excessive medical demand. There would therefore be no rationale for testing these groups linked to the Immigration Act . Since mandatory testing is not indicated for the population at large, neither is it for refugees and immigrants.