I have many documents with me today, but not the one from the Auditor General's report. What I remember is that the overall costs of detention in a correctional facility derive from an agreement between CBSA and the provinces, with CBSA paying the provinces to keep those immigration detainees in detention. As for the overall costs, unfortunately, we really need more statistics on that. We need more readily available statistics available for anyone.
I remember asking them for that information for my report, but they said they couldn't provide me with that type of information. But in that report, for the years 2005 to 2007, the overall costs of detention in correctional facilities were higher. They were higher knowing that more than one third of immigration detainees are in correctional facilities. Actually, the cost is really much higher in correctional facilities than in detention facilities.
I would like to state one further point. I oppose Bill C-31 and came here because I really wanted to give you a specific illustration of a specific problem. I do believe that detention is not an effective deterrent against irregular immigration. I do believe that there are other ways to address your problems and issues around irregular immigration. As you said, it is also true that there are problems relating to detention in immigration facilities, but this increase in detention in correctional facilities is problematic and should really be looked at closely before we go further with the implementation of the bill.