Family calls for probe into detainee’s death
‘We are utterly in the dark,’ his brother in Chile says
Relatives of a Chilean man who died in immigration custody say Canadian border officials have yet to inform them of his death and are asking that his body be repatriated as soon as possible.
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has not even confirmed that the man, who died March 13 at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, is Francisco Javier Romero Astorga, 39. The news came in a terse call from the Chilean consulate in Toronto, they said.
“We are utterly in the dark. Francisco’s mother is very ill and her health has deteriorated rapidly because of this news and we have no answers to give her,” the dead man’s younger brother, Esteban Ignacio Romero Astorga, told a news conference Wednesday via Skype from Quilpue, Chile.
“Francisco left Chile in perfect health, he spent much of his most recent time in Canada in immigration detention custody and now he is dead. We need to know more and we need the Canadian people’s help in getting us answers.”
It is the 14th death of an immigra- tion detainee in CBSA care since 2000. It follows that of Melkioro Gahungu, a 64-year-old Burundi man, who hanged himself at the Toronto East Detention Centre a week earlier.
Calling these deaths “mysterious and unjustifiable,” critics say the latest death again raises questions about the lack of transparency and accountability in the agency’s detention practices.
“Francisco’s body has been in a hospital in Hamilton for 10 days now,” said Syed Hussan of the End Immigration Detention Network. “We have reached a point where if they can’t keep people they detain alive, they should have no right of jailing people.”
The family asked the Canadian government to pay the nearly $10,000 cost to bring the man’s body home.
Immigration officials, CBSA and Hamilton General Hospital did not respond to the Star’s inquiries about the man’s death.
The Chilean consulate in Toronto said in an email that officials are following the case closely, pushing CBSA for information regarding the circumstances and cause of the man’s death.
The family said Francisco, a father of four, first arrived in Canada in the mid-1990s and worked in a Toronto bakery. By 2002, he had saved enough money to return to Chile, with plans to open a dance club.
“Francisco was a devoted son, a loving brother. His passion was music. He loved to draw. He was passionate about cooking and was an excellent chef,” his brother said. “He was a dreamer who was always looking for ways to make the future brighter.”
Esteban Ignacio Romero Astorga said his brother returned to Toronto last October, looking for a new beginning. However, he was immediately arrested and detained by CBSA at Pearson airport, but later released, his brother said.
The family lost touch with him in January and called the Chilean consulate and was told Francisco had been arrested again. On March 13, Chilean officials called and said their loved one was dead, they said.
In an email, Halton police told the family the cause of death was “undetermined” and the criminal investigation ended. A blood-test result is expected in May.
“There is nothing worse in the world than losing a child. Now that we know that he is not the first person to die in immigration detention, we want an investigation into his death,” the brother said.
Francisco leaves four children, Ignacio, 10, Hector, 11, Aimy, 12, and Camila, 19.