Immigration activists seek accountability for border cops

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      This morning (March 31), immigration activists held a teleconference to discuss oversights allegedly committed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

      The discussion came in the wake of two recent deaths of immigration detainees and the detention in isolation of a 16-year-old Syrian boy earlier this year, all in Ontario.

      Loly Rico, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR), said the CCR has proposed a model for a complaint mechanism, suggesting it needs to be independent—i.e., not subject to departmental or political influence—and external, meaning organizationally and physically outside the CBSA.

      “[For the model] to be effective, that means it has to have the legal powers and resources to investigate all complaints and monitor CBSA activities, and its findings [must] have legal consequences," Rico said.

      Mitch Goldberg, president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL), said during the teleconference that refugees who arrive in Canada are particularly vulnerable because of their fragile status, linguistic barriers (many do not speak English or French), and cultural barriers.

      "There are many times where there are allegations with serious concerns that they have been subjected to discrimination on the basis of their race or their religion or other grounds," he said.

      Goldberg said it is important to remember that refugees often arrive traumatized because they come from countries where they may have been persecuted, tortured, or raped. "It puts them in a very vulnerable state," he said.

      The CBSA, he noted, has huge powers in regard to searches and seizures of immigrants. "In general, they have less training than the police, and yet they have more powers over people's lives," he said.

      Goldberg added that the CBSA is the only major law-enforcement agency in Canada without any kind of an independent accountability mechanism.

      "We at the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers join the other groups indicating how crucial it is to have both an independent oversight and an independent review mechanism to deal with complaints and prevent abuse," he said.

      Josh Paterson, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), said that when someone is in the custody of law-enforcement officials in Canada, including those of the CBSA, they need to be safe and protected.

      "Time and time again, we have seen tragic deaths in the custody of CBSA, and there has been very little accountability, very little transparency from the agency as to the reasons for and any measures that might have been taken to prevent those deaths," he said during the teleconference.

      A news release issued by the BCCLA said that a man named Francisco Javier Romero Astorg died in CBSA custody at a provincial correctional facility in Milton, Ontario, on March 13, 2016. A week before, a detainee committed suicide at Toronto East Detention Centre.

      In December 2013, the Straight reported that a Mexican woman named Lucia Vega Jiménez committed suicide in a CBSA detention facility at Vancouver International Airport after being turned over to CBSA officers by Metro Vancouver Transit Police for being unable to produce proof of a paid SkyTrain fare.

      “We understand that she was so afraid of returning to her home country that she chose to take her own life rather than be deported,” Paterson said.

      He added that in the coroner’s inquest that followed, it was established that Jiménez had a mental-health issue and she had been scheduled for an assessment she never received due to internal CBSA communication problems.

      “She attempted suicide within days of being identified as needing mental-health assistance,” Paterson told teleconference participants.

      He continued by saying inquest evidence showed that in the CBSA detention facility, supervisory rounds were being faked, records were being falsified, and staffing, training, and equipment were inadequate.

      “We learned later, from access-to-information requests, that CBSA didn’t want the news [of the death] to come out,” he said. “We still never had answers [from CBSA] about why they apparently wanted this death to not become publicly known.”

      Paterson stressed that this is only one incident that underlines why it is so important to have independent oversight for the CBSA.

      “There needs to be a substantial look by the Canadian government not only at putting in place robust accountability mechanisms but also to look at the activity of the CBSA,” he said.

      As an example of the need for accountability, Paterson pointed out racial profiling by CBSA teams roaming selected neighbourhoods and asking people questions based on how they look. He said the BCCLA frequently hears from lawyers about abusive processes applied against vulnerable people by the CBSA.

      “Those refugees don’t necessarily want to make complaints because they feel so vulnerable,” he said.

      The Straight also reported, in December 2015, that during the past two years, Fraser Health Authority’s 12 Lower Mainland hospitals collectively referred about 500 patients to CBSA. (Health authority officials subsequently said that practice would come to an end.)

      “There needs to be independent, effective oversight for CBSA,” Paterson said. “There needs to be changes at this agency to ensure that it is one that truly serves Canadians rather than violating the rights of some of the most vulnerable people in this country.”

      Since 2000, 14 people have died in CBSA custody, according to the BCCLA.

      Follow Jocelyn Aspa on Twitter @jocelynaspa

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