Proportionate, Reasonable Accommodation to Perceived Security Threats

(Canada Border Services Agency)

"Detention is a tool that we use. It is the tool of last resort, but it is a tool that we need."

"There is a hardcore, a very small number, but a significant number of people that represent high risk. In exercising our responsibility to protect Canadians, we need to find a home for them."

"Our planning is to address that very issue [the potential for the agency to run out of short term space for current and future detainees]. It's to make sure that we can appropriately manage all the detainees that come our way, including the high-risk ones."

"The team here is working diligently to find the alternate solutions to build that capacity."

"I think the system and why we do [detention] is poorly understood."

"I think there's a misunderstanding around how broad is the scope of people that are subjected to detention. And I don't think there's a clear understanding of ... the care [for immigrants that] more often than not, we're asking [them] to leave the country because they're inadmissible."

"I'm not sure people are giving us the recognition for the great work that we've done."

Aaron McCrorie, vice-president, intelligence and enforcement, Canada Border Services Agency

 

"We have to find a different and better path forward in my view to deal with individuals who may be detained for violations of immigration law when there's some kind of an alternative."

"My own view is that immigration detention should be a last resort, absolutely, for somebody who did not commit a criminal offence."

Federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser

The Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, seen here, is one of the provincial jails that accepts migrants detained by the Canada Border Services Agency. (Radio-Canada)

The Canada Border Agency finds itself in a bind, with a backlash resulting from controversy over the practice of detaining high-risk migrants. Uncertainty, claims of human rights abuses by rights group, have led the provinces over the last year to cancel agreements that had permitted the Canada Border Services Agency to use provincial prisons in housing migrants detained over the matter of security concerns, during the time their cases are being officially considered. 

There will always -- emphasized Aaron McCrorie of the CBSA -- be certain immigration candidates to Canada who pose a security risk, for which the temporary solution is to detain them until such time as their application for asylum has been decided one way or another. British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Quebec cancelled prison agreements a year ago with CBSA. A one-year sunset clause gave the border agency time to find replacements.

The question remains whether the federal government will overhaul the system significantly, and whether new centres to relocate current detainees and place new arrivals by the CBSA can be established, before access to provincial prisons is lost entirely. The agency does have the alternative of building more of its own administered immigration holding centres, over the three it currently has to serve the entire country.

There were 931 immigration detainees in provincial prisons at the end of 2022-23, reduced from 2,043 seven years previously, and as of June 2022 that number fell further, to 70. Another 221 are held in CBSA's three immigration holding centres. Detainment represents a small portion of the agency security framework for immigration candidates considered a risk, with 97 percent of the 12,000 currently enrolled under surveillance in detention alternatives such as ankle-bracelet monitoring or regular reporting with CBSA agents.

 

Removals from Canada:

"If you receive a Removal Order you cannot legally remain in Canada and must leave the country. Depending on your situation, your removal order may be effective immediately, or after a negative decision if you had made an appeal. If you have questions about your Removal Order you are encouraged to call 1-833-995-0002, Monday to Friday between 8:00 am to 4:00 pm AST, to speak to an officer who can answer your case-specific questions."

"There are three types of Removal Orders issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) or the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). These are Departure Orders, Exclusion Orders and Deportation Orders. The form number on the Removal Order indicates what type of order you received."

Failure to Leave: 

"Once a Removal Order takes effect, you must leave Canada immediately."

"If you fail to appear for a removal interview or a scheduled removal date, the CBSA will issue a Canada-wide warrant for your arrest. Once arrested, the CBSA may detain you in a holding facility before removal."

"In order to ensure you leave Canada, the CBSA may assign an escort officer to accompany you on your departure."

Canada Border Services Agency

Human rights groups in recent years have accused CBSA of locking up some immigrants, children among them, for months at a time in "abusive" prison conditions, no date set for release. Mr. McCrorie notes significant changes have been implemented to the manner in which CBSA manages its immigration detainee stream since the launch in 2016 of the National Immigration Detention Framework, with its expanded alternatives to detention. Holding centres in British Columbia and Quebec, he points out, have implemented improved medical and mental health services for detainees.

 

Moreover, detention is reserved for acutely "high-risk" cases, most of whom have been convicted of crimes or are suspected of serious criminal activity in Canada or abroad. Individuals set to be deported will also be incarcerated should they be considered to represent a flight risk. 

 

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch published a report in June of 2021 calling for the end of Canada's immigration detention system. The CBSA was accused in the report of incarcerating thousands of people in "often abusive conditions" for months or years with no clear date of release. A campaign was launched by the two organizations urging provinces to end their agreements with CBSA for provincial prisons to take in immigrant detainees.

 

Some 2,000 of the approximately 8,000 migrants detained by CBSA on average each year from 2015 to 2020 were sent to provincial jails. (Radio-Canada)