CITI Committee News Release

For immediate release

OTTAWA, June 11, 1998 .... Stan Dromisky, MP (Thunder Bay -- Atikokan), Chair of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration today tabled the Committee’s first report in the House of Commons. Entitled Immigration Detention and Removals, the report deals with the enforcement aspects of the work of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The Report arises from a recommendation contained in the recent report of the Immigration Legislative Review Advisory Group, entitled Not Just Numbers: A Canadian Framework for Future Immigration. Recommendation 155 of that Report stated:

"In view of the importance of the issues, we were pleased to receive this reference, and the Committee hopes that our report and its 32 recommendations will contribute to the solution of some very vexatious questions in immigration enforcement," said Dr. Dromisky. "Not Just Numbers proposed some solutions, but the Committee concluded that they were not likely to succeed and were not in tune with some of our fundamental principles, so we were unable to accept them."

Key among the solutions proposed in Not Just Numbers was the concept of provisional status. This would be available to those without status in Canada who met, and continued to meet, certain criteria and conditions. Failure to meet the conditions without adequate cause would mean the person would be detained. "We considered this approach carefully," said Dr. Dromisky, "but in the end we concluded that the loss of liberty was too draconian a penalty to impose for violating administrative rules. The Committee also felt that more detention was not the answer to our problems and, indeed, might create more difficulties than we have at present."

The Committee identified the criteria for detention and immigration detention facilities themselves as problem areas. To encourage greater consistency in decision-making, the Committee recommends that Citizenship and Immigration Canada should implement new guidelines as soon as possible and ensure that employees receive adequate training in their application. Following a tour of detention facilities, the Committee noted various deficiencies. "We didn’t like what we saw at the Mississauga detention centre, and we concluded that it should be either upgraded or another facility sought," said Dr. Dromisky. "One of the recommendations that resulted directly from our visit was that the government should pay for education and language training for any child who is detained longer than seven days."

Responding to public concerns that the identity of individuals arriving in Canada is often unknown, the Committee recommends that detention upon arrival could be used until a person’s identity is apparent. This would begin only upon the institution of a system overseas that would scan the documents of travellers coming to this country on flights that have presented control problems. "Establishing people’s identity is important," said Dr. Dromisky, "and we hope that technology can be harnessed to help us do this. Once that system is in place, detention upon arrival should be used for those cases that remain unsolved."

In the area of removals from Canada, the Committee recommends that Canada’s overseas interdiction programs be increased. "Front line defence is the least costly and most efficient method of reducing the need for enforcement action; once people arrive in Canada and are found to be inadmissible the process of removal is lengthy and expensive."

The Committee also recommends that the government take a tougher line with countries that do not cooperate with Canada because they are reluctant to accept back their own nationals. The Committee suggests that linkages could be made, for example, between Canada facilitating the movement of people from such a country and that country cooperating with removals. Foreign aid could also be used to apply pressure in appropriate cases.

At the same time, the Committee recognized that there may be some individuals with a long-term attachment to Canada, particularly those who came to Canada as children, who should not be deported. The Committee recommended that the government should seriously consider recommending that such individuals be given protection in law.

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