June 18th, 2015

Statement from NDP Immigration Critic Teresa Armstrong on report into immigration detentions

'The report by the University of Toronto ‎should provoke shock and outrage at the deplorable conditions and neglect immigration detainees experience in Ontario. 

'New Democrats have raised the issue of this Liberal government’s role in the detention of immigrants before and received only silence back. I understand this is the same response the report's authors received - silence. Why won't Premier Wynne account for her government's leading role in detaining immigrants and others without status?

'This report comes the week after a man died while in medical distress at the maximum security Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay.  I want to extend my condolences to his family. 

'New Democrats want to know how a man's immigration status keeps him locked up ‎for three years in a maximum security jail, when the longest provincial sentence upon conviction is two years? 

'According to the Red Cross, the Ontario government made $20 million in 2013 through federal transfer payments for detaining immigrants.  New Democrats want the Wynne government to stop obstructing access to the Red Cross to detainees, to adopt the recommendations of the report - including a cap on how long someone can be detained - and to work towards getting out of the immigration detention business altogether.'