The Media Roundup provides links to recent and archived articles, in both English and French, on immigration and diversity appearing in the national and local news. Some international content is also included. Articles are updated weekly.
University of Toronto Faculty of Law – UN Condemns Canada’s Arbitrary, Indefinite Detention of Migrants
The UN Human Rights Committee, a body comprised of seventeen independent international law experts from around the world, has found that Canada’s treatment of immigration detainees is cruel and unusual, and results in arbitrary detention. In its 7-page “concluding observations” on Canada released this morning, the Committee expresses grave concerns about indefinite detention for migrants, mandatory detention of those who enter Canada through “irregular” means, and recent cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program which severely restrict access to healthcare for non-citizens. The Committee also expresses concern over insufficient medical support for detainees with mental health conditions held in provincial jails. The Committee calls on Canada to set a reasonable time limit on immigration detention, to ensure that immigration detention is used as a “last resort,” and to develop non-custodial alternatives to detention. The Committee also notes that migrants must have access essential health care services irrespective of their immigration status. Since 30% of immigration detainees are held in provincial jails, it is also significant that the Committee recommends that there be access to treatment centres for detainees with mental health issues.
The Guardian – Canada’s Pilot “Millionaires” Immigration Program Only Receives Six Applications
Canada has received just six applications for its pilot immigration program for millionaires, far fewer than for its investor class visa that was scrapped last year amid criticism it was allowing rich Chinese to buy their way into Canada. “I knew it wasn’t going to work. It was poorly designed,” said Richard Kurland, a Vancouver immigration lawyer who filed an Access to Information request for the data. Canada said in December it was looking for 50 wealthy foreigners to join the pilot run of the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital plan, under which applicants must be far richer than those who entered under the previous program. Kurland said the revamped program will likely “wither on the vine and quietly go away” given the clear lack of demand from would-be immigrants who balked at the high price tag and uncertainty about their investment. Officials at the office of Citizenship and Immigration minister Chris Alexander and at his department were not immediately available for comment. Under the new program, would-be immigrants must invest a minimum of C$2m ($1.5m) in Canada for a 15-year period and must have a net worth of at least C$10m. Among other criteria, they must also meet a new requirement that they speak English or French.
Toronto Star – UN Alarmed by Canada’s Immigration Detention
A UN report has raised the alarm over Canada’s lengthy immigration detention and the lack of medical support for inmates with mental health conditions. Those were among the many concerns over the changes made to the immigration and refugee system by the federal government in recent years that are raised in a country report released by the United Nations Human Rights Committee on Thursday. “The State party should refrain from detaining irregular migrants for an indefinite period of time and should ensure that detention is used as a measure of last resort, that a reasonable time limit for detention is set,” said the committee, made up of 17 independent international experts. The seven-page report is the result of a review of Canada’s human rights conditions, conducted earlier this month to ensure the country’s compliance with international agreements on civil and political rights. […] Canada’s immigration detention system has been under the spotlight in recent years, after the deaths of detainees in custody, including Mexican migrant Lucia Vega Jimenez in Vancouver in 2013 and Somali native Abdurahman Ibrahim Hassan, a mentally ill man who died in a Peterborough hospital in June.
CBC – Conservatives’ Refugee System Overhaul Dealt Another Blow by Federal Court
The charter rights of refugee applicants are being violated by a process that marginalizes, prejudices and stereotypes them based on where they are from, the Federal Court ruled Thursday in another blow to the Conservative government’s overhaul of the refugee system. By denying applicants from designated countries of origin (DCO) the right to appeal when their claims are rejected, the government violates equality rights enshrined in the charter, Justice Keith Boswell said. “The distinction drawn between the procedural advantage now accorded to non-DCO refugee claimants and the disadvantage suffered by DCO refugee claimants under (the policy) is discriminatory on its face,” Boswell wrote. “It also serves to further marginalize, prejudice, and stereotype refugee claimants from DCO countries which are generally considered safe and ‘non-refugee producing.” But Boswell stopped short of declaring the program unconstitutional, agreeing with the government that such a determination was beyond the scope of the case at hand. The decision, however, will have the immediate effect of allowing refugee claimants from 42 countries the right to appeal if their claims are turned down. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservatives-refugee-system-overhaul-dealt-another-blow-by-federal-court-1.3165544
La Presse canadienne – Réfugiés: le gouvernement accusé de discrimination
La Cour fédérale juge que le traitement différencié des demandes de statut de réfugié selon le pays d’origine marginalise et porte préjudice aux demandeurs. Il viole également les droits à l’égalité inscrits dans la Charte des droits. Dans un autre revers à la tentative de refonte, par le gouvernement conservateur, du processus d’octroi du statut de réfugié, le tribunal a jugé que de refuser à certains demandeurs le droit de porter la décision du gouvernement canadien en appel en cas de refus est clairement de la discrimination basée sur la nationalité d’origine. L’objectif du programme des pays d’origine désignés (POD) mis en place par le gouvernement conservateur en 2012 est «de prévenir l’abus du système de protection des réfugiés par des personnes provenant de pays qui sont généralement considérés comme sûrs». Ainsi, les demandeurs du statut de réfugié en provenance de 43 pays voient leur demande traitée plus rapidement afin que ceux qui présentent des demandes non justifiées «soient renvoyés rapidement».
Toronto Star – Detainees Demand Answers in Death of Man in Immigration Custody
A group of fellow detainees has joined the chorus of voices calling for an end to the secrecy surrounding the death of a troubled Toronto man in immigration custody. Eighty-eight inmates at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay signed an open letter demanding a public inquest into the June 11 death of Abdurahman Ibrahim Hassan. The letter asks that they be allowed to take part in the inquest and that it be held in an open fashion to provide answers in the death critics say has been shrouded in secrecy. “Hassan is one of us. […] Whatever happened to him all happened to us. He’s not gone. His spirit is still here,” said Francis Davidson, a man from Liberia who has been detained for immigration violations for four years. “We knew him very well. We have to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else. No other family should go through this,” Davidson added. […] Hassan, 39, also known as “Abdi,” died while in immigration custody at the Peterborough Regional Hospital. He came to Canada in 1993 as a refugee and had struggled with mental and physical health issues including diabetes and bipolar disorder, Hassan’s family in Toronto told the Star shortly after his death.
