Immigration Detainees: Detention and Treatment

immigration detainees: Despite progress made by the federal government in the past year in addressing some systemic issues with the detention system, the group said its treatment of immigration detainees, including children and individuals with mental health issues, continues to violate binding international law, according to Toronto Star. In many cases, this treatment constitutes arbitrary detention, as well as cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, they said in their 18-page submission to the council on Thursday. The review, scheduled for early 2018, is conducted once every four years. There is no legislatively prescribed limit to the length of detention, and as such, detainees have no way to ascertain how long they will spend in detention. Article Continued Below Read more Caged by Canada While Canada is celebrated as a safe haven for refugees, hundreds of unwanted immigrants like Ebrahim Toure languish indefinitely in jails across the countryUN calls out Ottawa over lengthy immigration detention stays react-empty 166 Maximum-security jail ruled unconstitutional in immigration detention case Last year Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale announced that 138 million would be invested to enhance alternatives to detention and rebuild immigration holding facilities, after a series of deaths of detainees, including Francisco Javier Romero Astorga, a Chilean, at Maplehurst; Melkioro Gahungu, a Burundian, at Toronto East; and an unnamed 24-year-old man in Edmonton. A needlessly punitive culture persists within the immigration detention system, and it is enabled by a series of systemic issues that must be addressed through legislative, regulatory, and policy amendments. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.