New holding centre will improve treatment for detainees, CBSA says
A new immigration holding centre is in the works as the Canada Border Services Agency plan to abandon a facility that has been heavily criticized.
The agency confirmed that the Vancouver International Airport holding area for migrant detainees is expected to shut down early next year, after retrofits are complete to a disused RCMP building on 76th Avenue in Surrey.
The CBSA said the new facility will let it meet a number of recommendations made by a coroner’s jury in 2014 after the death of Mexican national Lucia Vega Jimenez, who died in border services custody.
The new building will have space to provide medical, mental-health and spiritual services for detainees. The building also offers natural light, proper ventilation and outdoor recreational space, something not available at the airport site, which falls below international detention standards.
Among the jury recommendations was for the CBSA to use its own staff to guard detainees. The CBSA, however, said it will continue to contract guard services to private firms, something human rights groups have criticized.
“The new (centre) has been designed with office space to accommodate managers, several CBSA officers and administrative staff,” Ben Letts of the CBSA said in an email, adding that those managers will help increase oversight of centre operations.
Four years ago, the coroner’s inquest heard testimony from a contracted security guard who said he falsified room-check records the morning of Jimenez’s death, before finding her hanging in a shower stall later that day.
The CBSA has changed security companies since the death, with Securiguard holding a contract until mid-2020.
The CBSA said it routinely checks on contracted employees to ensure they are fulfilling their duties.
The new (centre) has been designed with office space (for) administrative staff.” Ben Letts, CBSA