Event Details:
Under Canadian law, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has broad discretionary powers to detain non-citizens under immigration law, without a trial or a charge, and without any due process safeguards. There are no time limits: detention can occur indefinitely.
CBSA has contracts in place with provinces across the country that authorize the agency to detain non-citizens in criminal facilities, including maximum-security provincial jails. For decades, this has occurred in overcrowded facilities, where immigration detainees are handcuffed, shackled, searched, and subjected to constant surveillance. Many languish in lockdowns and solitary confinement. Racialized people and those with mental health conditions are habitually incarcerated for longer periods of time and endure harsher conditions of confinement.
In October 2021, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International launched the #WelcomeToCanada campaign, calling on provincial authorities to terminate their agreements with the CBSA. In July 2022, British Columbia became the first province to announce that it will rescind its contract with the CBSA and end the practice of detaining non-citizens in provincial jails. Since then, two additional provinces – Nova Scotia and Alberta – have followed suit.
This presentation will chronicle the work of the campaign in its first year of operation. Featuring comments from subject-matter experts and experts with lived experience inside immigration detention, the presentation will highlight the harms of immigration detention, the advocacy work undertaken over the last year, the campaign’s success in achieving structural law and policy reform, and the resounding power of hope.
Please contact Michelle Burchill at burchill@allard.ubc.ca for the Zoom link. For those attending in person, a light lunch will be available.
This lecture qualifies for 1 hour of CPD credit.
Panelists:
- Allard School of Law
- All Students
- Alumni
- Faculty
- Staff