Immigration detention faces rare legal challenge today in provincial court
Alvin Brown, 40, has 5 years behind bars already waiting for travel documents
The federal government says a Jamaican man who has been in immigration custody for five years is now set to be deported.
Government lawyers tell Ontario Superior Court in Toronto today that Alvin Brown, 40, is scheduled to leave Canada on Sept. 7.
However, Brown's lawyers are skeptical, noting Jamaica has failed in the past to give him travel documents.
Brown, a permanent resident of Canada since he was eight, has been found inadmissible because of his drug and robbery convictions.
Ontario's top court ruled last year provincial courts have jurisdiction to hear detention matters and Brown is seeking his release in Superior Court.
Lawyers for Brown were expected to ask the court to look at whether his ongoing immigration detention was justified. Brown has spent five years behind bars.
Last year, Ontario's top court cleared the way for Tuesday's legal challenge when it ruled provincial courts have the jurisdiction to hear such cases.
Federal Court normally deals with immigration matters but critics say it provides little oversight of what can amount to indefinite imprisonment.
Last month, detainees went on hunger strike to press for an end to the practice.