A Historic Step Towards Ending Canadas
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
Dear Friend,
One month ago, the province of British Columbia announced that it would be ending its immigration detention agreement with Canada Border Services Agency (CSBA).
I had the privilege of speaking at our press conference where people with lived experience in immigration detention joined advocates and experts to speak about this historic decision. The province’s announcement provides 12 months’ notice for CBSA to end its agreement that currently allows for migrants and refugee claimants to be incarcerated on purely administrative grounds in provincial jails.
Though the decision is a significant human rights victory, I spoke about how we see only a first step:
“It is our hope that B.C. will set an example for the rest of the country and that each province will terminate its agreement with the CBSA, in turn increasing pressure on our federal government to abolish immigration detention altogether.”
The... decision followed the province’s review of its immigration detention agreement sparked by a report from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, as well as a long period of advocacy including submissions to the BC government during its review of the contract, a 14-Days-of-Action campaign launched by a coalition of BC organizations in May, and statements to Vancouver City Council in June resulting in a unanimous vote calling on the province of BC to stop jailing immigration detainees.
The coalition has highlighted concerns with detention including that jailing people for purely immigration purposes may violate the BC Human Rights Code’s protection from discrimination. Furthermore, the CBSA’s practices in immigration detention are discriminatory against people with mental health conditions. Immigration detainees from racialized communities, primarily detainees who are Black, are incarcerated for longer periods and are more frequently held in provincial jails.
WATCH OUR PRESS CONFERENCEAs I expressed in an opinion editorial, as long as immigration detention persists, the multicultural ideal to which Canada aspires remains dangerously misleading. It is a revolving door, not an open door—simply a veil for continued human rights abuses by the state.
The BCCLA will continue to call for all provincial governments to follow B.C.’s lead and also make this critical step in reforming the racist, nationalist, and carceral foundations upon which Canada’s immigration regime is built. Thank you for standing with us.
Sincerely,
Mara Selanders (she/her)
Staff Counsel, Policy
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This joint advocacy work was brought together by a coalition of many BC groups, including BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, BC Prisoner Legal Services, BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, BC General Employees’ Union, the Centre for Gender & Sexual Health Equity at UBC, Community Legal Assistance Society, the Immigration and Refugee Legal Clinic, Justice for Girls, Migrant Workers Centre BC, Migrante BC, Pivot Legal Society, Rainbow Refugee, SWAN Vancouver, VAST, and West Coast LEAF.
