Children in Detention

Resolution number
13
Whereas
  1. Section 60 of IRPA says that detention of children should be a measure of last resort;
  2. Regulation 249 obliges the consideration of alternatives to detention where children are concerned;
  3. The Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges Canada to give primary consideration to the best interests of the child;
  4. Children are held in detention centres in Canada either because they are detained or because they are accompanying their detained guardians;
  5. CBSA and IRB do not give primary consideration to best interests of the child in their decision-making with regards to detention of children;
Therefore be it resolved

That the CCR demand that:

  1. CBSA not detain children by considering all possible alternatives;
  2. IRB and CBSA respect their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and give primary consideration to the best interests of the child when making decisions on detention of children or of adult guardians of children, which affects their children.
Subject
Detention
Children
Working Group
Inland Protection