Sask. to stop holding immigrant detainees without criminal charges, in line with 4 other provinces

The Saskatchewan government will stop holding immigrant detainees this fall, joining several other provinces committed to ending the practice.

For nearly 30 years, the provincial government has placed some migrants without criminal charges — who entered Canada at an illegal point or those with administrative issues — in jail.

On Friday, however, the ministry of corrections, policing and public safety announced this practice would end Sept. 30.

"We've seen a number of other provinces move in this direction," Premier Scott Moe told reporters Monday.

"It's less so of a challenge today in Saskatchewan with illegal migrants, or illegal border crossing, but it very easily could be."

In 1994, the provincial government signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal government, in which it agreed to house people detained under the federal Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. That could include refugees and victims of human trafficking, among others.

The Canada Border Services Agency, the federal agency in charge of the flow of legitimate travellers and trade, can arrest foreign nationals and permanent residents if it has "reasonable grounds to believe" they are inadmissible, dangerous to the public, will not appear for various proceedings or hearings or are unable to satisfy the office of their identity, according to the legislation.

People could also be detained in order to complete the immigration examination, or if the federal minister of public safety designates a group of foreign nationals are irregular arrivals.

Detention is a last resort, once "all suitable alternatives" are considered, a CBSA spokesperson told CBC News. Detaining someone is subject to independent review by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

Saskatchewan does not have an immigration holding centre, so detainees in the province would have to be held in jail or some alternative to detention.

Last year, 16 people were sent to jails in Saskatchewan on an immigration hold, according to a news release issued by the provincial government.

After reviewing the agreement, however, the provincial government found its correctional system does not have a role when someone is detained for immigration reasons, a government spokesperson told CBC News.

The province will continue to hold migrants who have criminal charges until those matters are finished, the spokesperson added. B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia have also committed to no longer holding immigrant detainees.

"It's really big news," said Julia Sande, a lawyer of human rights law and policy for Amnesty International Canada.

"Any length of immigration detention is really traumatic."

In 2021, Amnesty International released a report that found many issues with the system, such as immigration detainees who were sent to jail often being treated like criminals, and racialized people — particularly Black men — were more likely to be detained for longer and to be held in jail.

Many people are held indefinitely and with little understanding as to why, Sande said.

The report states that, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the CBSA released detainees "at unprecedented rates" to alternative detention options.

"This just goes to show that alternatives to detention are possible and we're hopeful that that's what the [federal] government will rely on," Sande said.

The Saskatchewan government and CBSA will work on a transition plan to ensure public safety and care of detainees.

Premier Moe suggested that part of the government's decision was influenced by what has been occurring at the Canada-United States border at Roxham Road in Quebec, an unofficial land border crossing.

New rules under the Safe Third Country Agreement recently came into effect that bar migrants seeking entry to Canada from the U.S. from claiming asylum after crossing the land border, although there are some exceptions.

Many have tried crossing at Roxham Road regardless, but immigration experts and advocates are worried the revised legislation could make it more dangerous for people to cross, while putting pressure on human resources to patrol the border.