PACP Committee News Release
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Standing Committee on Public Accounts |
HOUSE OF COMMONS CHAMBRE DES COMMUNES OTTAWA, CANADA K1A 0A6 |
Comité permanent des comptes publics |
For immediate release
NEWS RELEASE
Prompt action required to ensure the integrity of Canada's immigration system and border controls
Ottawa, May 13, 2009 -
The Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) needs to take prompt action to ensure that Canada’s immigration system is not being compromised and that the integrity of Canada’s border controls is upheld, according to a report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts presented in the House of Commons today by Chair Shawn Murphy, MP.
The CBSA has the responsibility to detain people found to be inadmissible to Canada, and to deport people subject to removal orders. The CBSA can detain a person if they believe the person will not appear for their immigration proceedings, will pose a risk to the public, or are not satisfied with the accuracy of a person’s identity.
An audit by the Office of the Auditor General found that the CBSA does not ensure that decisions to detain or release individuals from detention are consistent and fair, does not carry out certain aspects of detentions and removals with due regard to cost, and does not know the whereabouts of a growing number of individuals who remain in Canada illegally.
The Public Accounts Committee is concerned that overcrowding and the lack of clear national guidelines for provincial detention facilities may be subjecting foreign nationals awaiting removal to conditions that are not acceptable. Additionally, the Committee is troubled by the CBSA’s inability to ensure that individuals are complying with the conditions of their release, and by CBSA’s inability to track individuals who remain in Canada illegally.
In its report, the Committee recommends that the CBSA take steps to ensure that detainees are held in adequate facilities, undertake a review of the extent to which individuals are complying with the conditions of their release, and study means to better track whether foreign nationals have left Canada.
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