Thank you.
There are many international legal provisions at stake when we look at the detention regime here. It starts with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees against arbitrary arrest and detention, and the need for regular, timely access to an ability to challenge the reasons for detention.
It's repeated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Canada ratified in 1976.
There are provisions in the Convention on the Rights of the Child that deal in particular with the liberty rights of children and the importance of ensuring that they are not subject to arbitrary arrest. In fact, their detention is only an option of absolute last resort.
There are also numerous provisions in refugee law. The hard-law provisions in the refugee convention, for instance, make it clear that simply because a refugee claimant arrives in a country through illegal means, which is a very normal and necessary step for many refugee claimants, that is not in itself grounds to punish him or her. Obviously, imprisonment constitutes punishment.
There are also guidelines and other documents from the UNHCR that make it very clear that detaining refugee claimants should not be a normal course and that great care should be taken, particularly with respect to refugees who are vulnerable: children and survivors of rape, sexual violence, and torture. There are no provisions in this legislation for that.