Monsef urged to take action

Concerned citizens are asking more of the federal government after witnessing children separated from immigrant parents in the United States.

A letter urging an end to immigration detention, particularly involving children, was delivered to Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef’s constituency office Wednesday.

About 25 citizens signed the document Monday during a peace vigil for “children in cages.”

The group rallied at George and McDonnel streets Monday evening to draw awareness to what’s happening in the U.S.

America adopted a policy in April of separating children from their parents after illegally crossing from Mexico. More than 2,000 children were affected.

The vigil was also an opportunity to highlight Canada’s similar stance in handling illegal immigrants and their families.

Margaret Slavin helped coordinate the vigil.

Although the crisis with children in the U.S. was the focus of Monday’s gathering, she said citizens have advocated to end immigration detention in Canada for years.

“It’s important not to get mesmerized by (what’s happening in the U.S.) and not realize we are also incarcerating children, for the most part with their families,” Slavin said.

Last week, the CBC reported that 595 minors have been detained at Canadian immigration holding centres over the past three years, Slavin said.

Of those minors, 43 were unaccompanied by an adult, according to the report.

The federal and provincial ministries responsible for detaining immigrants couldn’t comment Thursday on how many detainees, adults or children, were in their custody.

End Immigration Detention Network, an organization that supports migrants indefinitely imprisoned without charges or trial, says that the United Nations has criticized Canada’s detention regime. It’s one of the few countries in the world without a limit on detentions.

The letter to Monsef expresses outrage for detainments, but also thanks human rights organizations that seek to end immigration detention in Canada.

The note also references No Life for a Child, a report from the international human rights program at the University of Toronto. The report lists communitybased alternatives to handling undocumented immigrants.

“There are a lot of different ways to deal with immigrants… and they don’t have to kept in jails while their process is happening,” Slavin said.

What’s happening in the U.S., has raised a question that all mankind should be asking, Slavin said.

“Why aren’t we putting children first?”

In the letter to Monsef, citizens insist that the ministries responsible for immigration detention publish monthly progress reports. The updates can then be published in Monsef’s monthly notes to her constituents.

Officials at Monsef’s office said they received the letter and the MP would review it and respond at an appropriate time.

Slavin hopes the letter will lead to a much more humane way of dealing with illegal immigration.