Joint Submission by HRW & AI to British Columbia Corrections on Immigration Detention in Provincial Jails

Over the past five years, Canada has detained tens of thousands of people on immigration-related grounds, including refugee claimants.[1] Immigration detainees are held exclusively under immigration law, most commonly because authorities believe they may not appear for an immigration or refugee proceeding, but many detainees experience some of Canada’s most restrictive confinement conditions. Since 2017, hundreds of immigration detainees have been incarcerated in British Columbia’s provincial jails, most of them in the Allouette Correctional Centre for Women, Fraser Regional Correctional Centre, and North Fraser Pretrial Services Centre.[2] Immigration detainees can be held for months and even years without end in sight because Canada does not have a legislative limit on the duration of immigration detention.[3]