As I alluded to earlier, when an asylum seeker is detained, the first thing done to them is they are handcuffed.
Although they are not handcuffed during the time in the detention centre, if they ever have to go outside, for example to a hospital for medical care, they're not only handcuffed but also shackled at the waist and at the feet. They are also accompanied by a security guard. Indeed, many people told us they preferred to forgo medical treatment rather than undergo the public humiliation of being shackled and handcuffed in a waiting room.
On a day-by-day basis, there are uniformed security guards, cameras everywhere, and so on. But it's really in the small details. For example, a man arrives late at night and is detained. The next morning, at six o'clock, the wake-up time, he says, “Look, could I please sleep in? I'm really tired.” The security guard says, “No, it's six o'clock, you've got to get up.” The guy says, “I don't care. I want to stay in bed.” So he’s put in 24-hour, solitary detention. That's a prison.
I'm not at all saying that people are brutalized. Guards do their work in a professional manner, CBSA does its work in a professional manner. That's not the issue. But it is a prison, there's no doubt about it. Of course in Toronto and Montreal you have the immigration holding centre specifically for migrants, but elsewhere in Canada, the other asylum seekers detained are held in provincial prisons with criminals.
I'm particularly concerned about what may happen to the 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds who would be detained under this bill. Youths held in prisons are at serious risk for sexual harassment and sexual abuse in particular. That's a very great concern.