Northern Ontario cancer patients who must travel for treatment say they face discrimination because they don't get the free flights, tasty meals and nice hotels that their Southern Ontario counterparts do.
René Boucher, one of several people who have filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, had to drive his wife, Elizabeth, five hours to Sudbury from Iroquois Falls about a dozen times.
In return, he received a cheque for $109.89 for each trip, which meant he had to get by paying for meals, cheap motels and half of the mileage expenses.
By comparison, Southern Ontario cancer patients referred for radiation treatment to the United States or Northern Ontario have their hotel stays, food and transportation covered by Cancer Care Ontario at the cost of roughly $5,000 each.
"It's not even second-class treatment, it's third-class treatment and it's discriminatory," Mr. Boucher said in a telephone interview from Iroquois Falls, near Cochrane.
Consequently, Mr. Boucher and other complainants are charging that they are living a form of "health-care apartheid."
"How can a no-nonsense government do something that's such nonsense," asked Mr. Boucher. "They're going to find out they can't brush this aside. We won't let go of this."
Liberal MPP David Ramsay (Timiskaming-Cochrane) helped Mr. Boucher and several other patients lodge the complaint, charging they are being discriminated against based on where they live.
"It's so galling to us," Mr. Ramsay said. "It's a clear-cut case of discrimination."
Pearl Eliadis, director of policy for the Ontario Human Rights Commission, said she couldn't comment on the case specifically. However, she said it is discriminatory under the Human Rights Code to treat someone differently based on where they live.
A government spokesman said the two groups of patients are funded by different programs. Northerners are covered under the Northern Health Travel Grant, which is currently under review, according to Barry Wilson, spokesman for Health Minister Elizabeth Witmer.
The Northern travel grant helps defray costs not only for cancer patients but for other patients receiving specialized medical services, said Mr. Wilson, who refused to comment specifically on the case.
The Ontario government spent roughly $9-million last year reimbursing 88,000 northerners who had to travel for all types of medical treatment not available in their communities, he said.
Cancer patients who live in southern communities such as Toronto and London have been sent to the United States and Northern Ontario for radiation treatment and their expenses are paid under another program.
"The re-referral program is for people who have to travel to another cancer centre for a service that normally would be available in the [community]but isn't," said Dr. Kenneth Shumak, president of Cancer Care Ontario, which administers that program.
Over the past year, 1,278 such patients have been sent to Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Kingston and the United States for radiation treatment due to lengthy waiting lists.
Manitoba, Quebec and Newfoundland are also sending cancer patients south of the border for radiation therapy in what is being blamed on a worldwide shortage of radiation therapists.
The dearth of workers has prompted officials at all Canadian cancer centres to scour the world and dangle perks such as signing bonuses and fatter salaries to lure radiation therapists to this country.
Cancer patients treated at the respected Cleveland Clinic have gushed over the fine food and excellent accommodation. Some have even been given a free trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Dr. Shumak said he has told the Ontario government that the Northern grant is in some cases "inefficient and therefore it is an issue. Certainly Cancer Care Ontario stands by its mandate of trying to provide equitable access and this is obviously a problem."
Liberal MPP Rick Bartolucci (Sudbury) said he is exploring with a law firm the possibility of a class-action suit, adding that he already has 26 Northern Ontario cancer patients ready to sign on.
"There's absolutely no question it's a discriminatory policy," Mr. Bartolucci said yesterday.
That's certainly how Janice Skinner of Capreol, north of Sudbury, sees it.
Ms. Skinner said she has paid thousands for lodging, meals and other necessities while travelling to Toronto for three surgeries and 33 radiation treatments for a rare form of cancer that afflicted her buttock muscle.
When she discovered the difference in the way northerners were treated, "I was just amazed, and then I was very angry," said Ms. Skinner, 49. "The fact that we were being discriminated against really bothered me. Travel for cancer is travel for cancer. We shouldn't be treated any differently."
Ms. Skinner said her husband had to take time off work to drive down with her to Toronto, where she had to make frequent stops due to pain. For all that, they received $127.49 for each trip.