Minister Ralph Goodale and Alternatives

Canada Border Services Agency: Goodale told a Senate committee on Monday his department is looking at alternatives to locking away children, but he added the issue is complex and requires study."There are problems in the system that go beyond simply changing procedures," Goodale said. "Physical capacity is an issue, according to Brandon Sun. And we need to make some changes there in order to accommodate alternatives."In a confidential inspection report made public in January, the Red Cross said Canada should jail child immigrants only as a "last resort" and must find alternatives to detention for such vulnerable newcomers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickOTTAWA - Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says he wants to end the Canada Border Services Agency practice of detaining child migrants. 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.