(Ottawa, June 17, 2021) – Canada jails thousands of people each year, including people with disabilities, for migration-related reasons in often abusive conditions.Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today in a joint report prepared for World Refugee Day, June 20.
The 100-page report, titled “’I didn’t feel like a human in there’: Immigration detention in Canada and its impact on mental health”), documents how people held for immigration purposes, including those fleeing contexts of persecution and seeking protection in Canada, are routinely handcuffed, shackled and held with little or no contact with the outside world. Without a specific date for their release, these people they can be held for months or even years. Many are sent to provincial prisons, with the common prison population, and are frequently held in solitary confinement. People with psychosocial disabilities – or mental health issues – face discrimination throughout the process.
“The system of abusive detention of migrants in Canada raises a in stark contrast to the rich diversity and values of equality and justice for which this country is known to the worldSaid Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada. “Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch call on the Canadian authorities to end the inhumane treatment of people in the migrant and refugee protection system, by gradually ending the detention of migrants in Canada.
The research included 90 interviews with immigrants who had been detained and their families, mental health experts, academics, lawyers, civil society representatives and government officials. Researchers also consulted UN reports and documents on the subject, as well as unpublished government documents obtained through 112 access to information requests.
People detained for immigration reasons are not criminally charged or convicted, but many are subject to the most restrictive conditions of detention in the country, including maximum security provincial prisons and solitary confinement. They are handcuffed, shackled, searched and confined in extremely small spaces, with rigid routines and under constant surveillance.
“I felt like the world was ending for me. They didn’t tell me what was going on, what had I done wrong“
“I felt like the world was ending for me. They didn’t tell me what was going on, what had I done wrong“Said a woman from an African country who was arrested upon arriving in Canada in 2019.” I told her [a la funcionaria de fronteras] everything that had happened to me where I came from, and how I had escaped for my life … But he didn’t understand me and didn’t let me explain … I thought: stay where I was and die there ‘”.
Between April 2019 and March 2020, Canada locked up 8,825 people between 15 and 83 years old, including 1,932 in provincial prisons. During the same period, 136 other children were “housed” in detention centers to avoid separation from their detained families. Of these boys and girls, 73 were under 6 years old. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International found that since 2016, Canada has detained more than 300 people on immigration grounds for over a year.
“Canada is proud to welcome refugees and people arriving from different latitudes with open arms, despite being one of the few countries in the global North where those seeking safety run the risk of being detained indefinitely. .Said Samer Muscati, deputy director for the rights of persons with disabilities at Human Rights Watch. “This leaves many without the certainty – or even hope – of when they will regain their freedom, which can have a devastating impact on their mental health.”
The organizations concluded that people with psychosocial disabilities are more likely to be detained in provincial prisons than in migrant detention centers. In Ontario provincial prisons, they are often held in solitary confinement. They may not be allowed to make autonomous decisions regarding their legal status, and informal representatives of the state make these decisions on their behalf. Many of these people also face significant obstacles to their release and, once they do, must meet more stringent release conditions, which can lead to re-arrest if they fail to comply. not.
“To put it simply, immigration authorities discriminate against people with disabilities by tightening the conditions of their detention and offering more onerous release conditions than most other detainees,” Muscati said. “Instead of subjecting people with psychosocial disabilities to punitive conditions in immigrant detention, the government should provide psychosocial, legal and other assistance that respects their autonomy and dignity in the community.
The organizations have also discovered that many people detained for immigration reasons are protesting suicidal thoughts when they start to lose hope of being released. People fleeing traumatic experiences and persecution are particularly affected. Many people who were in immigration detention centers continue to live with the psychosocial effects they developed during the months of incarceration and even years after their release.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) remains the only one of the major law enforcement agencies not to be overseen by independent civilian authorities. Failure to monitor the CBSA’s broad mandate in exercising powers has repeatedly resulted in serious human rights violations in the context of immigrant detention, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International noted.
Detained immigrants from communities of color, particularly blacks, appear to be deprived of their liberty for longer periods, often in provincial prisons. In 2019, most of those detained for immigration reasons who were deprived of their liberty for more than 90 days were from countries in Africa.
“In Canada, there should be no room for racism, cruelty and human rights abuses against people who come to this country in search of safety and a better life,” Nivyabandi noted. “We urge Canada to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture to prevent these violations in the future, and to open detention centers for inspection by international observers.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has stated that the detention of migrants “should not take place in establishments such as police stations, pre-trial detention facilities or prisons” and “should not be punitive nature ”..
The Canadian government should stop holding people with physical or psychosocial disabilities in immigration detention centers, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said. No one should receive punitive treatment for reasons related to migration, including solitary confinement in solitary confinement or in institutions used to serve sentences, such as prisons or penitentiary-type establishments.
“Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, Canadian authorities have released an unprecedented number of detained migrants,” Muscati said. “Instead of going back to old practices while the pandemic is under control in Canada, the government has a concrete opportunity to reform its immigrant and refugee protection system to prioritize mental health and human rights. “
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