Refugees Are People Too
If Bill C-31, "Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act," passes in parliament, Canada will lose its reputation for fairness and human rights and, more importantly, hundreds if not thousands of people's lives will be adversely affected.
Other Huffington Post contributions noted that the bill's earlier incarnation, C-4, was dangerously misguided in its attempts to stop human smuggling. The revised bill is in fact more draconian, dropping many of the protections guaranteed in the first one. The bill's mandatory immigration detention provision, among others, will harm innocent people, cost a lot of money and wont deter human smuggling or refugee claimants -- the bill's ultimate goal.
What is immigration detention? It is the temporary incarceration of non-citizens, in this case refugee claimants or other migrants who arrive through 'irregular' means, as part of processing their claims. International law generally permits immigration detention pending admissions or deportations, and considers it to be administrative, non-punitive and ancillary to immigration control. Detention is commonplace in countries like Australia, the U.S., and the U.K. In Canada, it is a measure of last resort used only when claimants present a flight risk or the identity of a person cannot be verified.
