Immigration Detention in Canada Essay Sample

Are you aware of the human rights conflicts people are facing outside of your country? For example Canada jails immigration detainees. They are treated poorly and live in inhumane conditions. This is one of many countries that takes people’s rights away. There are other alternatives to what they are doing and it should be stopped. 

To begin with, the detainees are being abused and withheld from their rights. “People in immigration detention are regularly handcuffed, shackled, restricted to small spaces with rigid routines, and placed under constant surveillance” (Canada: Jailing Immigration Detainees Infringes on Rights). No human deserves to be treated like that. The same study also indicates that “since 2000, at least 16 people have died in the border agency’s custody, and most were held in provincial jail at the time.” Everyone has the right to life and freedom from tourture; Canada is not giving people that right. 

Even though Canada is not giving people their birth rights, “the federal government transfers immigration detainees to provincial jails”(Samer Muscati, amnesty.org). It is primarily the federal government's fault for the immigration to Canada, allowing people to get treated the way they do in the provincial jails. The federal government is one of the biggest reasons that allows this crisis to continue.

However, there are programs and aid groups in place to try and help this situation. There is the Toronto Bail Program in Canada . Those in this program “are initially placed in intensive supervision, with regular reporting.” (International Detention Coalition). There is also the FCJ Refugee Centre. This  provides housing for women and children without a program of supervision. It has a “99.9% compliance rate. When detainees are homeless but required to provide an address upon release, they may be placed in a temporary shelter program…” These programs may not help stop the abuse in the jails, but it helps the people with money and housing making their situation a little better. 

Did you know that immigrants are withheld from their birth rights in Canada? People are handcuffed, shackled, restricted to small spaces, have their belongings taken from them, among many other things. It is inhumane and most of it is because of the federal government. Even though there are programs to help the people in the jails, it needs to be recognized and others need to help. It needs to end.