British Columbia, July 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In a historic transfer, British Columbia’s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Mike Farnworth, introduced at the moment that the province will terminate its immigration detention contract with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
“Today’s decision is a momentous step. We commend British Columbia on being the first province to stop locking up refugee claimants and migrants in its jails solely on immigration grounds,” stated Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary common of Amnesty International Canada (English Speaking). “This is a true human rights victory, one which upholds the dignity and rights of people who come to Canada in search of safety or a better life.”
British Columbia’s landmark announcement got here after the province concluded a evaluate of its immigration detention contract. In the course of the evaluate, the province obtained submissions from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International alongside a BC-based coalition of social justice, educational and grassroots organizations, advocates with lived expertise in immigration detention, in addition to healthcare suppliers, legal professionals and educational students, and spiritual leaders throughout Canada. In June, the Vancouver City Council voted unanimously to urge the BC authorities to finish immigration detention in the province’s jails.
Over the previous 5 years, CBSA has incarcerated tons of of individuals on immigration grounds in British Columbia’s provincial jails. In a June 2021 report, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International documented how folks in Canadian immigration detention are usually handcuffed, shackled, and held with little to no contact with the skin world. Canada is among the many few nations in the worldwide north with no authorized restrict on the period of immigration detention, which means folks could be detained for months or years with no finish in sight.
People with psychosocial disabilities (or psychological well being circumstances) expertise discrimination all through the immigration detention course of. For instance, CBSA coverage signifies immigration detainees with psychosocial disabilities could also be incarcerated in provincial jails somewhat than devoted federal immigration holding facilities in order to entry “specialized care.” People from communities of coloration, and Black folks in specific, seem to be incarcerated for longer intervals in immigration detention and infrequently in provincial jails as an alternative of immigration holding facilities.
The #WelcomeToCanada marketing campaign started in British Columbia in October 2021 and has since expanded to Quebec and Nova Scotia. British Columbia’s choice is a serious milestone on the trail to ending immigration detention in provincial jails in Canada, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International stated. BC Corrections informed Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International the province will give CBSA its 12-month written discover to terminate the immigration detention contract subsequent week.
“We are thrilled that BC has taken this historic step to eliminate some of the worst abuses in immigration detention,” stated Samer Muscati, affiliate incapacity rights director at Human Rights Watch. “We urge other provinces and the federal government to follow suit by ending this harmful practice across the country, and to get on the path to abolishing immigration detention.”
For extra data, please contact:
For Human Rights Watch, in Vancouver, Samer Muscati (English): +1-437-886-2505 (cellular); [email protected]. Twitter: @SamerMuscati.
For Human Rights Watch, in Toronto, Hanna Gros (English): [email protected]
For Amnesty International Canada, in Ottawa, Ihsaan Gardee (English): +1-613-277-1500 (cellular); [email protected]
For Amnistie Internationale Canada francophone, in Montreal, Camille Ducroquet (French): +1-514-766-9766 ext. 5236; [email protected]
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- Canada: British Columbia to End Immigration Detention in Jails
- Amnesty International Canada & Human Rights Watch – Immigration Detention Report Cover picture
