Quebec and New Brunswick say they will no longer keep immigrant inmates in prison
Quebec and New Brunswick will no longer hold immigrant inmates in provincial prisons after canceling their contracts with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
That brings the total number of provinces that have decided to cancel these contracts with the CBSA to seven, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia.
Quebec will stop incarcerating immigrant detainees in its provincial prisons by the end of this year. New Brunswick will end the practice on February 28 next year.
Migrant rights and civil liberties activists are enthusiastic about the move.
“We thank Quebec and New Brunswick for supporting Canada’s growing consensus on immigration detention in provincial prisons,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of the Anglophone Section of Amnesty International Canada.
Read more Canada immigration news
Manitoba no longer holds immigrants in provincial prisons
Alberta to stop holding immigrant inmates in provincial jails after CBSA contract termination
Canadian immigration detainees remain held in provincial prisons in five provinces
“Now seven provinces, representing nearly two-thirds of Canada’s population, have declared they will no longer participate in the inhumane, discriminatory practice of detaining migrants and refugees.
“It’s time for the three remaining provinces, including Ontario, whose prisons hold more people in immigration detention than any other province, and the federal government finally sided with history and justice.”
Ontario, which holds the largest number of inmates in provincial prisons, is reportedly reviewing its agreement with the CBSA.
Saskatchewan is terminating its contract with the CBSA, which expires in September this year. Manitoba’s contract expires next year.
By then, immigration detention in British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Alberta will have ended.
Amnesty International Canada and Human Rights Watch both maintain human rights abuses occur within immigration detention and have called on the provinces and Ottawa to end immigration detention in provincial prisons.
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“Quebec and New Brunswick’s decisions represent an important step towards ending a harmful and discriminatory system of immigration detention,” said France-Isabelle Langlois, Executive Director of Amnistie Internationale Canada.
“It is unacceptable that people fleeing conflict, disaster or extreme poverty end up in prison, in some cases in maximum security detention. The federal government should take this as a signal to abolish immigration detention and put human rights at the center of its immigration and refugee protection systems.”
Lawyers calling on Ottawa to end housing Immigration and Refugee Act (IRPA) inmates in provincial prisons across Canada see this as the long-awaited result of their lobbying efforts.
CBSA detained 1,445 migrants in the second quarter of last year
The most recent data from the CBSA shows that 1,445 migrants were detained in Canada during the three months ending September 30 last year, the most recent quarter for which data is available.
Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia are currently the three provinces where most migrants are detained.
Detained persons sorted by province
| Province | First quarter | Second quarter |
| Alberta | 63 | 53 |
| British Columbia | 223 | 283 |
| Manitoba | 8 | 4 |
| New Brunswick | 7 | 3 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 2 | 0 |
| Northwestern areas | 0 | 0 |
| Nova Scotia | 1 | 1 |
| Ontario | 644 | 574 |
| Prince Edward Island | 0 | 0 |
| Quebec | 435 | 525 |
| Saskatchewan | 13 | 2 |
| Yukon | 0 | 0 |
Canada holds migrants for detention on seven grounds:
- Inspection. If an officer deems it necessary to obtain more information from a migrant to complete an investigation, that individual may be detained to allow the officer an opportunity to do so. An investigation may be as simple as a few questions, but may also include an examination of the person’s personal belongings, more intensive interrogation, or personal investigation;
- Suspicion of serious crime, crime or organized crime;
- Suspicion of inadmissibility for security reasons;
- Suspicion of inadmissibility on the grounds of violation of human rights/international rights;
- Identity. If an officer is unable to verify an individual’s identity, that individual may be detained;
- Danger to the public, or;
- Probably won’t show up. An individual may be detained if an officer believes that the individual is unlikely to appear for an investigation, an admissibility hearing, removal from Canada, or any proceeding that could result in the issuance of a removal order.
