Transgender woman tweets she was detained at Toronto airport, sent to men’s jail

TORONTO – A transgender woman from London, England says she was detained at Toronto’s airport and sent to a detention centre for males while she awaits an immigration hearing.

Avery Edison, 25, posted on her Twitter account that she landed Monday at the airport and was detained by the Canada Border Services Agency, she suspects because the last time she was here she overstayed her student visa.

Edison tweeted that despite her passport listing her as a female, the customs officials sent her to Maplehurst Correctional Complex, which is a detention centre for males, to await a hearing.

Her girlfriend, who lives in Toronto, tweeted that jail staff told her that Edison was in the male facility because she has male genitalia.

Edison wrote that the prospect of being sent to a male facility, where she believed she would be “a potential target for sex attacks,” was “terrifying.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services says “classification recommendations and decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and are based on factual information and objective criteria.”

Greg Flood says the ministry is discussing the case with the Canada Border Services Agency, but could not divulge more information for privacy reasons.

“Anyone with concerns about their treatment or care while in our custody can bring those concerns forward to the staff, superintendent of an institution, ministry officials, including the minister and the deputy minister,” Flood wrote in a statement.

“Concerns may also be raised to the Ombudsman, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, or to an MPP or MP.”

Canada Border Services has not yet returned a request for comment.