Her Majesty's Penitentiary in St. John's, Newfoundland where migrants were detained at the request of the Canada Border Services Agency. (Archive photo)
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Newfoundland and Labrador, led by the Liberal government of Andrew Furey, is the only province Canadian government that does not plan to end the controversial practice of incarcerating migrants in its provincial prisons.
All other provinces have now indicated to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) that they will no longer agree to imprison people detained under the immigration and refugee protection.
The incarceration of migrants for administration in the same establishments as people detained for criminal reasons is a violation of international law, according to many experts.
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Many asylum seekers are among the tens of thousands of people who have been detained by the Canada Border Services Agency over the years. (Archive photo)
If detentions are required, they would be assessed on a case-by-case basis, wrote the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Justice and Public Safety in response to questions from Radio-Canada.
Immigration detention is not a common practice in Newfoundland and Labrador. The province does not have a formal agreement with the Canada Border Services Agency, the ministry says.
Last year, six people were jailed in connection with an immigration case in Newfoundland and Labrador, according to CBSA statistics. According to the federal agency, there are no such detainees in this province at this time.
The position taken by Newfoundland is deeply disappointing.
A quote from Hanna Gros, refugee lawyer and researcher at Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is one of the human rights organizations that launched the Welcome to Canada campaign in 2021 to urge provinces to end their agreements with the federal government regarding the detention of migrants.
Hanna Gros, refugee lawyer and researcher at Human Rights Watch, denounces Newfoundland's decision to continue detaining migrants.
Why is Newfoundland the only province committed to maintaining this abusive practice?, asks Ms. Gros. The fact that this is not a ''common practice'' is one more reason to put an end to it. That's no excuse to continue it, she said.
Mme Gros fears that ;#x27;Border Services Agency sends migrants there that other provinces now refuse to imprison.
We have seen that the CBSA does not hesitate to transfer people from one province to another to keep them incarcerated. So it's a huge concern, she said.
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The Penitentiary of Sa Majesty in Saint John of Newfoundland. Last year, six people were incarcerated in this province in connection with an immigration case. (File photo)
Border agents may detain foreign nationals or permanent residents, including applicants asylum, for three main reasons: risk of flight, poorly established identity and danger to public security.
The vast majority of the 71,988 migrants who were detained by the CBSA between 2012 and 2023 were there for risk flight, that is to say that the agency feared that they would evade an immigration measure, such as removal.
Since June 2022, nine provinces have refused to detain people in connection with an immigration case or have committed to doing so ;here the next few months. Several provinces had signed formal contracts with the CBSA requiring them to give one year's notice to terminate their agreements.
Faced with the decision of provinces, the agency indicated last December that it was making upgrades to its three federal immigration monitoring centers in Laval, Toronto and Surrey, British Columbia , in order to be able to keep people at high risk there.
The agency maintains that detention is used only as a last resort, when alternatives in the community are not possible.
Several migrants have died in detention over the years, including some who took their own lives.
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Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116
