Immigration enforcement raises concerns

Compassion, justice and respect for human rights must be assured, say Jenny Jeanes and Paul Clarke.

The Canadian government detains thousands of people each year for purely administrative reasons related to their immigration status. In the Montreal area, a former correctional facility in Laval is used for immigration detention, as is a provincial jail. Each week, our organization visits individuals and families who are detained at the Laval centre.

In 2016, upon hearing the announcement that the Laval detention centre would be replaced with a new facility, we were concerned that this could impede efforts to reduce detention or even lead to more detention. In 1996, when the detention centre moved from a Montreal hotel to the current facility, we had feared there would be higher security and more limited access. Our fears were realized.

We recognize that better conditions in a new facility may reduce some hardships experienced by people in the existing centre. Improved conditions, however, do not change the underlying reality that people are deprived of their freedom. Detention is still detention. Studies show that even a short time in detention can have harmful mental health effects.

The 2016 announcement of the new centre was accompanied by commitments aimed at expanding the range of alternatives to detention, keeping children and families out of detention to the greatest extent possible and creating an oversight mechanism for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). That same summer, it seemed likely that the refugee determination system would be improved. We were hopeful that positive change was on the way.

Today, more than three years later, we are disappointed. Alternatives have been limited in scope and inaccessible to most of the people we meet. Many children and families have been

A CBSA oversight mechanism has yet to be created.

in detention, often for more than a month. We have seen an increase in the separation of families arriving at the border, with one parent sent to detention. A CBSA oversight mechanism has yet to be created, which means the significant powers of CBSA to arrest, detain, deport and separate families go unexamined by any independent body. And while some positive developments have occurred within Canada’s refugee determination system, Bill C-97 enacted in June 2019 placed greater restrictions on access to refugee protection.

We will be watching closely over the coming weeks as another detention centre is due to open in Surrey, B.C. Serious and pressing questions remain: How can the government fulfil its promises to make enforcement practices more humane, while simultaneously enhancing its capacity to detain people? How will officers respect commitments to keep children out of detention when the new centre has spaces specifically designated for families? And finally, how will people’s rights to due process be respected with plans to conduct hearings by videoconference in these new facilities?

As the only local NGO authorized to make visits to people in secure areas of the Laval detention centre, Action Réfugiés Montréal’s priority is to continue our work accompanying people in detention, work we have been doing for more than 25 years. At the same time, we continue to raise our voices about the injustices to which we bear witness.

Our most immediate concern is to address the desperate need for effective, meaningful and independent oversight of immigration enforcement. Bill C-3, An Act to Amend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act and the Canada Border Services Agency Act, was recently introduced in Parliament regarding oversight. This may be a step in the right direction, allowing for an independent complaints mechanism. However, the bill as presented falls short of what is needed to remedy serious systemic problems.

Many Canadians’ experience of CBSA is limited to short inspections at a land border or in airports. Particularly for vulnerable refugee claimants, there is much more at stake. We ask you to raise your voice with ours to ensure compassion, justice and respect for human rights in immigration enforcement practices.