Thank you very much.
As well as being vice-president, I'm also the detention program coordinator at Action Réfugiés Montréal.
A major preoccupation of the bill is the creation of immigration stations. It's deeply disturbing that the government is proposing expanding places of detention on immigration grounds to federal correctional facilities when all 10 provinces have clearly expressed a rejection of the practice of immigration detention in jails.
Creating a new possibility to detain in federal jails is a step in the wrong direction. We should avoid detention, and release through expanded alternatives to detention.
Many of those considered high risk have mental health and addiction issues. Investment should go towards proper supports. If people are detained, CBSA itself can and should manage risk with appropriate independent oversight. Imprisoning detained individuals in jails is punitive and does not respect fundamental rights. There's a risk of geographic isolation. Also, for those seeking protection, being detained in jail is retraumatizing and jeopardizes the chances of their claim being accepted.
Our understanding is that a scan of federal facilities has not been completed. If individuals are detained in federal jails, there's a high risk that they would be in de facto solitary confinement, potentially for long periods of time.
Our recommendation is to delete clauses 433 to 441, which enable the use of federal correctional facilities for immigration detention.