Quebec to continue detaining migrants for CBSA into 2024

Quebec will continue the controversial practice of detaining migrants six months later than originally planned at the request of the federal government, according to information obtained by Radio-Canada.

Under its current agreement with the federal government, Quebec agrees to incarcerate in its provincial jails people detained for administrative reasons related to their immigration file.

Last year, Quebec informed the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) that it would end this controversial practice as of Dec. 31, 2023.

Imprisoning immigration detainees in correctional facilities is contrary to international law, according to many human rights groups and experts.

Quebec has since granted "a grace period" to CBSA, at the agency's request, according to Quebec's public security ministry. The new deadline has been set for June 30, 2024.

Immigration lawyer Pierre-Olivier Marcoux says he is "disappointed" with the continued detention of migrants in Quebec and "concerned" for the well-being of his clients at the Legal Aid Office in Montreal.

"Provinces like Quebec, which decided to end this agreement, did so for a reason. And this reason was concerns about the lack of respect for fundamental human rights in provincial jails," Marcoux said.

In jail, it is more difficult for a migrant to access mental health care or communicate with a lawyer and their loved ones, he added.

In August 2023, Nova Scotia became the first Canadian province to stop incarcerating migrants on behalf of the federal government.

This autumn, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia followed suit. Other provinces have committed to doing the same in 2024.

CBSA can detain foreign nationals if it believes their identity has not been clearly established, they pose a danger to the public or they pose a flight risk. The vast majority are detained for the latter reason, meaning the border agency believes they will not appear for immigration processes such as a removal.

Migrants can be held in one of three federal immigration holding centres or in provincial jails.

Between 2015 and 2020, the CBSA detained some 8,000 migrants on average each year, of which about one in every four was sent to provincial correctional facilities.

During the pandemic and border closures, the number of immigration detainees dropped. In the fiscal year 2022-2023, CBSA detained 5,248 people, including 931 in provincial jails.

As of Dec. 18, seven people were imprisoned in a provincial facility in Quebec under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, according to the public security ministry.

CBSA told Radio-Canada earlier this year the most serious cases, such as individuals inadmissible for reasons of serious criminality, make up the majority of migrants who remain in correctional facilities.

According to Marcoux, migrants suffering from serious mental health problems also find themselves in jail where their condition deteriorates even further.

"Often, when people are imprisoned, they tell us about their difficulties and their distress," he said. "This is really not good for the mental, and I would even say physical health, of our clients." 

Marcoux said many arrive from war-torn countries where they have already experienced trauma.

Following the decision by several provinces to terminate their contracts with the federal government, CBSA said it is upgrading its immigration holding centres in Laval, Que., Toronto and Surrey, B.C., in order  to "accommodate high-risk detainees."

A separate area will be set up in Laval, the border agency wrote in an email to Radio-Canada. CBSA said it is also adapting its staffing and training of guards.

Marcoux said he didn't understand why these changes were only happening now.

To rescind agreements with the federal government, provinces had to give one year's notice.