Canada shirked responsibility: report
84-year-old man died in U.K. custody; commission’s performance questioned
Canadian authorities in London had refused to provide financial or care assistance to an 84-year-old Canadian with dementia who was held in shackles and later died in immigration custody, according to a U.K. ombudsman’s report.
Alois Dvorzac of Vancouver died of a fatal heart attack on Feb. 10, 2013, after being found disoriented at England’s Gatwick Airport and detained while travelling to see his estranged daughter in Slovenia.
According to a report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales, the widower was held at the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre near Heathrow while plans were made to send him back to Canada. That was arranged three times but thwarted each time — twice because he was not assessed as fit to travel and once because no medical escort was available.
“Immigration staff attempted to find more suitable accommodation, but no one else was willing to take responsibility for him,” ombudsman Nigel Newcomen said in the report, which was leaked to the British media and expected to be published shortly after an inquest into his death.
In an email to British authorities, the Canadian High Commission “said it would be pleased to facilitate communication with individuals or organizations in Canada to assist with the man’s return to Canada, but that the High Commission did not accept responsibility for the costs of removal and was not able to accommodate and care for a person pending their removal,” the ombudsman’s report said.
The independent investigation details for the first time what happened to Dvorzac in the 18 days he spent in immigration custody in England as officials tried desperately to get him out for proper accommodation and arrange for his return to Canada.
“This is a particularly sad case in which no one considered that immigration detention was the appropriate setting for the man, but all attempts to find an alternative failed,” wrote Newcomen.
“It is a tragic indictment of the system, that such a frail and vulnerable man should have spent his final days in prison-like conditions of an immigration removal centre. It is particularly shameful that he should have spent his last hours chained to a custody officer without justification.”
According to the report, Dvorzac was removed from a nursing home in Vancouver to a hospital for mental health assessment after he hit a staff member. He then escaped and somehow managed to get on a flight by himself to Europe.
When the widower was found at Gatwick on Jan. 23, 2013, he was carrying a large sum of cash but had no luggage, nor a ticket for onward travel.
British officials immediately contacted the Canadian High Commission, which provided the telephone number and address of Dvorzac’s daughter.
However, they were only able to track her down after the man’s death.
Canadian officials also gave British immigration staff contact information for the facility where Dvorzac had lived in Canada and obtained a list of medications he was prescribed for acute coronary syndrome, diabetes, depression and anxiety.
The following day, British officials notified their Canadian counterparts that a decision had been made to deny Dvorzac entry to the country.
“A Canadian consular official (said) the Canadian authorities did not have any facilities to provide social care. They suggested that if he was not a danger to himself or others, then he should be detained and removed like any other passenger,” the probe found.
“If he was a danger, then he could be sectioned and detained in a mental health facility until he could be removed.”
In response to the draft report, the Canadian High Commission said Ottawa could not take legal responsibility for the man as per their mandate but had offered to help him arrange hotel accommodation and consular assistance, which he refused.
In an emailed response to the Star’s questions, Foreign Affairs spokesperson John Babcock wrote, “Our thoughts are with the family of Mr. Dvorzac,” but said details on the case cannot be released “to protect the privacy of those involved.”
Local authorities are responsible for investigations of a death abroad, Babcock wrote, but consular officials can help families obtain information about what happened.
He referred to the government’s travel.gc.ca website for details on what consular officials can and cannot do when a Canadian is arrested or detained.