Human rights groups urge Canada to end immigrant detention in provincial jails News
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Human rights groups urge Canada to end immigrant detention in provincial jails

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International Monday called on Canada to end its practice of incarcerating immigration detainees in provincial jails.

“Canada’s practice . . . is inconsistent with international human rights standards, and jail conditions potentially breach federal-provincial immigration detention contracts,” HRW said.

In a legal memorandum released on its website, HRW said that Canada had detained thousands of people on immigration-related grounds and held them in jails run by the provinces. The federal-provincial contracts require the jails to provide just and humane treatment to immigration detainees and to avoid co-mingling them with people imprisoned under the criminal justice system. But Human Rights Watch said that conditions in provincial jails are abusive and that the facilities are inherently punitive and should not be used for immigration detention. The report said that detainees can be held for months or even years within these jails because there is no legislative limit on the duration of their detention.

The detainees are under the full discretion of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), which remains the only major law enforcement agency in Canada without independent civilian oversight. Immigration detainees have no means to challenge CBSA’s placement decisions at detention review hearings. Further, migrants with mental health conditions may be placed in solitary confinement.

Last fall, HRW called on the provincial government of British Columbia to end its agreement with the Canadian government accepting immigration detainees. The provincial government announced in January it would review its agreement, a process that is expected to conclude in June. Since then, the campaign to end the agreements has been ramped up in the provinces of Nova Scotia and Quebec.

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