Imprisoning migrants in federal jails is unfairness for every generation

Buried in the federal government’s 2024 budget plan, curiously titled Fairness for Every Generation, is a proposal to detain migrants and refugee claimants in federal prisons. If adopted, these measures would turn back the clock on the hard-won rights of migrants and refugees in Canada. Immigration detention is not new in Canada. However, expanding the practice into federal prisons would be a betrayal to a growing consensus in this country to against it. British Columbia was the first province to announce its decision to end its immigration detention contract with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth— explaining his government’s 2022 decision to stop using provincial jails to hold migrants and refugees detained without charges on immigration-only grounds—said the arrangement didn’t align with the province’s “commitment to upholding human-rights standards.” The remaining nine Canadian provinces have since followed suit. Ketty Nivyabandi is the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. Photograph courtesy of Amnesty International The harms of incarcerating migrants and refugee claimants are well-documented. At least 17 people have died in immigration detention since 2000, most in provincial jails. Last year, a coroner’s inquest into the 2015 death of 39-year-old Abdurahman Hassan, who had been arbitrarily detained while the CBSA struggled to deport him to Somalia, exposed the shocking conditions some people in immigration detention face in prisons. This includes the prolonged use of solitary confinement which is to be employed only in exceptional circumstances outlined under the United Nations’ Nelson Mandela rules. Not only does immigration detention violate international human rights standards, but recent evidence shows it excessively affects already marginalized groups. Migrants and refugee claimants who are racialized—particularly Black men—are over-represented in provincial jails. People with mental health conditions also receive disproportionately coercive treatment, and are more likely to be subjected to solitary confinement. The unfairness of the government’s proposal prompted 85 civil-society organizations, settlement agencies, and other advocates to sign a May 13 open letter urging the government to reverse course. Why then is the government doubling down on a regime that discriminates against and traumatizes people seeking a better life in Canada? Immigration Minister Marc Miller argued that federal prisons would only be used for “a very small segment of the population” who are “high-risk” and often afflicted with “severe mental health problems.” Weeks later, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc claimed some people in immigration detention “may be involved in terrorist activity” or have “violent criminal pasts,” which would make their release into the community unthinkable. These comments are confounding and inaccurate. Between April 2016 and March 2020, 94 per cent of people in the system were held because authorities suspected that they might not appear for a hearing or for removal from the country—also known as “flight risk”—because CBSA agents were unsatisfied with their identity documents, or to complete an examination of their status. None were held for posing national security concerns. A small minority—five to seven per cent—who may have faced criminal charges or convictions in the past can be placed in immigration detention only after the Canadian justice system has determined them fit for release into the community. Casting people in immigration detention as “dangerous” fuels a racist and xenophobic false narrative that non-Canadian citizens are inherently threatening. Additionally, using federal prisons to hold people with severe mental health conditions is discriminatory and inhumane. Prison is hardly the place to receive mental health care. In fact, research data reveal that immigration detention exacerbates and can trigger conditions such as anxiety, depression, psychosis, and suicidal ideation, particularly when incarceration is prolonged and without end in sight. Fortunately, many humane alternatives to detention exist. Non-profit agencies such as Matthew House in Toronto have a long history of helping newcomers navigate immigration proceedings while connecting them with housing, health, and social services—at a fraction of the cost of locking up thousands of people in jail every year. As they debate the budget, MPs must stay true to the Charter and the UN’s Nelson Mandela rules: stop the expansion of immigration detention into federal prisons and instead, start investing in community-based alternatives that uphold peoples’ dignity and rights. Fairness demands nothing less. Ketty Nivyabandi is the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. The Hill Times