QuickFacts on report into CBSA migrant jailings in Canada

TORONTO – A new report decries Canada Border Services Agency’s routine and frequent detention of foreigners in provincial jails.

Key Findings:

• Even short-term immigration detention has a significant negative impact on mental health;

• Detention causes psychological illness, trauma, depression, anxiety and aggression;

• Indefinite detention is one of the most stressful aspects of immigration detention;

• Detention can be particularly damaging to refugees, victims of torture or the mentally ill.

Key Recommendations:

• Create an independent body/ombudsman to oversee and investigate the CBSA;

• Enshrine in law the use of least restrictive measures against migrants;

• Detention beyond 90 days should be unusual and subject to court oversight;

• Take into account mental health and other vulnerabilities in detention reviews;

• Detain migrants in dedicated, minimum-security facilities near community supports and their lawyers.

SOURCE: “We Have No Rights,” University of Toronto International Human Rights Program