| Bill C-31 - What it means |
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DETENTION
(Sections 50 -55)
The bill identifies three main grounds for detention: unlikelihood of
appearing, danger to the public and identity issues. These are also in
the current Act. However, the bill broadens the provisions for detention
in a number of ways.
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The bill gives immigration officers new powers to detain at the port of
entry on the basis of administrative convenience (for example, to
complete an examination). Officers will also be allowed to detain people
where they have "reasonable grounds to suspect" inadmissibility on grounds
of security or human rights violations.
There is no need for new detention grounds based on convenience
and suspicion. The tests of danger to the public and "unlikely to
appear" already cover all situations in which detention is necessary. The
new provisions constitute a serious threat to the fundamental right of
liberty.
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The bill expands the provisions for detention without warrant. Currently,
there are limited circumstances in which people inside Canada can be arrested
without warrant. Under the bill, immigration officers will be able to arrest
and detain, without warrant, people who are inadmisible, even when they
are not about to be removed.
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The bill expands provisions for detaining people on the basis of identity.
Any document requirement hurts refugees who are often forced to flee without
ID, because it is their very identity that puts them at risk of persecution.
Currently, people can only be detained for ID at the port of entry. Under
the bill, people can be detained if they fail to establish their identity
for any procedure under the Act. This suggests that refugee claimants
could be detained if they fail to establish their identity at their refugee
hearing.
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Once someone is detained on ID grounds, the bill suggests that they may
be detained for weeks or months. It says that they are to be released
if it is established that the person cooperated and the identity is established
or cannot be established, or alternatively if the Minister has not made
reasonable efforts to establish the identity.
This contrasts with the current Act which provides for short-term detention
on ID. It can take detainees weeks or months to obtain identity documents.
Similarly, adjudicators may wait for long periods of time before deciding
that identity cannot be established.
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The government has announced that it plans to make arriving through criminally
organized smuggling operations a factor towards concluding that the
person would not appear. But people who arrive using smugglers are not
in fact necessarily less likely to present themselves.
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The bill provides for regulations on special considerations for the detention
of minors. This is good in principle, although what the considerations
are remains to be seen.