Canadian Embassy and Red Cross

Syrian refugee child: In a confidential inspection report made public in January, the Red Cross says Canada should jail child immigrants only as a "last resort" and must find alternatives to detention for such vulnerable newcomers, according to Huffington Post Canada. A Syrian refugee child displays his serial number as his family register their information at the Canadian processing centre for Syrian refugees, during a media tour held by the Canadian Embassy in Jordan, at Marka airport, Amman, Jordan on Dec. 8, 2015. Goodale told a Senate committee today his department is looking at alternatives to locking away children, but he suggests the issue is a complex one that requires study. The border services agency holds people who are considered a flight risk or a danger to the public, and those whose identities cannot be confirmed. Among these were at least 197 minors, held an average of about 10 days each. The Red Cross says the border agency detained 10,088 immigrants — almost one-fifth of them refugee claimants — in 2013-14 in a variety of facilities, including federal holding centres and provincial and municipal jails. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.