Ontario NDP Deputy Leader Doly Begum (Scarborough Southwest), MPPs Bhutila Karpoche (Parkdale—High Park), and Critic for Solicitor General John Vanthof (Timiskaming—Cochrane) released the following statement in response to the Ontario government’s decision to end immigration detention in provincial jails:
We are relieved to hear that Ontario will finally end their contract with the federal government that allows immigration detainees to be held in provincial jails. Ontario will be the eighth province to put an end to this deeply concerning practice that undermines human rights.
QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario NDP Deputy Leader Doly Begum (Scarborough Southwest), MPPs Bhutila Karpoche (Parkdale—High Park), and Critic for Solicitor General John Vanthof (Timiskaming—Cochrane) released the following statement in response to the Ontario government’s decision to end immigration detention in provincial jails:
We are relieved to hear that Ontario will finally end their contract with the federal government that allows immigration detainees to be held in provincial jails. Ontario will be the eighth province to put an end to this deeply concerning practice that undermines human rights.
It is troubling that the province allowed the detainment of individuals seeking a better life in provincial jails for this long. Racialized individuals, especially Black men, have been disproportionately subjected to harsher conditions and prolonged detention periods within these facilities while the government continued to maintain this harmful practice. There have been hunger strikes by detainees to protest the horrendous conditions and the denial of their fundamental rights.
People from across the world come to our province in hopes of new opportunities, and our province needs to have policies in place that do not undermine the human rights of those who come here to build a better future for themselves and their family.
The Ontario NDP has been calling on the province to end its role in immigration detention since 2017. We want to recognize the efforts of advocacy organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International who have been on the front lines of this issue and campaigned to end immigration detention in provincial jails with their #WelcomeToCanada campaign.
We call on the Federal Government to take action and end their agreement with all provinces. We must prioritize community-based alternatives to detention instead of transferring individuals across provinces. Every province, not just these eight, must unify to uphold our values as Canadians and protect vulnerable community members instead of capitalizing on a flawed system that undermines their rights and dignities as human beings. Today’s announcement is a big win for every single person in our province who has been impacted by this inhumane practice.