Ottawa may electronically track failed refugees
The House of Commons’ public safety committee has issued a report recommending the government consider the use of electronic ankle bracelets as a way to curb the number of denied refugee claimants who fail to comply with removal orders.
Opposition critics, however, say expanding the use of such technology for immigration purposes would be a waste of money because most rejected immigrants and failed refugee claimants pose “little or no risk” to the public.
Currently, electronic monitoring is rarely used in Canada in immigration cases. At the time the committee prepared its report, three individuals in Canada were subject to electronic monitoring as conditions of their release from immigration detention.
The committee’s report cited the testimony earlier this year of Peter Hill, director general of post-border programs at the Canada Border Services Agency, which has the responsibility of enforcing the removal of people deemed inadmissible to Canada. Hill testified that there were 44,000 individuals in the country with outstanding arrest warrants and whose current whereabouts were unknown.
“By and large, the majority of them — 80 per cent of those cases — are failed refugee claimants without any criminality or security concerns,” he told the committee. “They have absconded — they have not shown up for an immigration process or they have not shown up for their removal — so we have warrants for their arrest for removal.”
Hill subsequently said it was possible up to 20 per cent of those individuals had left the country and the government just didn’t know.
“So there are still a lot,” Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner said at the time.
The committee’s report did note that while electronic monitoring can be useful in tracking someone’s movements, it won’t necessarily stop someone from “going underground.” It also acknowledged testimony that imposing other conditions, such as curfews and bonds, can be just as effective in ensuring people obey the law.
The report also acknowledged that electronic monitoring devices can sometimes result in false alarms or malfunctions.
Still, the committee, which is chaired by Conservative MP Kevin Sorenson, went ahead and recommended that the Canada Border Services Agency “review the use and cost effectiveness of electronic monitoring with the aim of reducing the occurrence of inadmissible individuals who are not presenting themselves for removal.”
The committee also recommended the government do a study looking at the possible use of electronic monitoring in the corrections system, as a way to monitor federal offenders’ compliance with conditions of their release. The devices are currently used on a limited scale in seven provinces.
But in a “dissenting opinion” attached to the report, NDP members of the committee accused the Conservatives of wanting to “steam ahead” with the expanded use of electronic monitoring when it has not been proven to reduce crime.
“The New Democratic members of the committee support the use of electronic monitoring only on high-risk offenders and only when it is paired with adequate programming,” they wrote.
They also said they opposed the use of electronic monitoring on immigrants and refugees who have not committed criminal acts, saying that it is not reflective of Canadian values, nor reflective of basic principles of international human rights.
Julie Carmichael, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, said in a statement Wednesday that the government will respond to the committee’s recommendations “in due course.”
To date, 20 out of 29 located individuals have been deported.