‘Agitated’ man dies in border agency’s custody

Officials won’t identify him or say why he was detained or why he was hospitalized

A cloak of secrecy surrounded the death of a man in the custody of Canada’s immigration authorities Friday, with details sketchy and his identity and nationality withheld.

In a brief news release late Thurs- day, Canada Border Services Agency announced the man’s death in hospital in Peterborough, Ont. “The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) was notified by the Peterborough General Hospital that an adult male detainee, who was receiving care, passed away in hospital,” the statement said.

The release, issued about 18 hours after the death, gave no further information about who he was, where he was from or any other circum- stances related to his detention or death. It did say his family had been notified.

A trickle of details emerged a few hours later when the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which probes deaths or serious injuries that occur in police custody, said in a statement of its own that it was investigating the death.

The unit said the man was 39 years old and was being detained at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont. He had been admitted to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre for medical reasons under escort from local and provincial police officers, the SIU said.

“At approximately 1 a.m. on Thursday, June 11, 2015, the man became agitated,” the SIU said.

“At the request of medical staff, he was restrained by the officers and by health professionals.

“Shortly after, the man went vital signs absent and was subsequently pronounced dead.”

On Friday, a spokeswoman for Canada Border Services Agency refused to elaborate beyond confirming the SIU investigation of the death and the fact the coroner’s office had been contacted.

While authorities refused to say why the man was sent to hospital in the first place, coroner’s juries have criticized the border agency in the past for how it dealt with detainees with medical needs.