Canada Looks to Monitor Detained Migrants Electronically Instead of Locking Them Up

Amid an outcry over the recent deaths of migrants held in custody by the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA), the department is exploring alternatives to detaining asylum seekers, including using electronic surveillance to keep track of them. But critics say this new proposal does not address deeper problems with a system they have been lambasting for years.

The CBSA posted a federal tender online earlier this month asking for feedback on its Alternative to Detention (ATD) program, specifically on a "community supervision program" that would use "electronic supervision tools" for people detained by CBSA. If implemented, it may be the first time the agency has used such a method to monitor detainees.

The posting adds that a community supervision program would "effectively mitigate risk of release" by requiring detainees to adhere to reporting requirements and obligations to live at a certain location. Though the agency does not specify in the post what exactly the electronic supervision tools would be, it could include ankle bracelets or other location trackers used in the criminal justice system for people placed under house arrest or out on bail.

CBSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from VICE News, specifically about whether the agency would explore the use of ankle monitors. A spokesperson told the National Post that detention protocol required the department to "consider all reasonable alternatives before detaining someone for immigration purposes" and it will "consider all release proposals presented by or on behalf of the detainee"

The department, one of the only law enforcement agencies in Canada that is not subjected to independent oversight, has faced mounting scrutiny over its detention practices, including its routine detention of thousands of migrants in provincial jails across the country. Canada is one of the only developed countries that detains migrants in prisons, and does not have a time limit on how long it can detain migrants — some have been held in jail without criminal charge for a decade.

Since 2000, some 15 migrants have died in CBSA custody, most recently a 24-year-old man who died at an Edmonton jail this month, although the agency has yet to release information on his identity and cause of death. Earlier this year, two other migrants died in Ontario jails, including a Burundian man who hanged himself in his cell while awaiting deportation.

Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the agency can arrest and detain migrants if they're deemed a threat to society, when their identity is in question, or if it's believed they will flee or not show up for their immigration proceedings. They are held in one of the country's three holding centers built for the sole purpose of detaining migrants, or in provincial jails, where they are kept with people who have been charged or convicted of criminal offences.

They can also be released into the community at an adjudicator's discretion, for example through a bail program, or if a relative or community members offers to hold them accountable for reporting back to CBSA.

Although keeping migrants out of detention is a good goal, McGill psychologist Janet Cleveland, who has authored a number of studies on migrants held in detention facilities, told VICE News that electronic surveillance would just be another extension of Canada's detention regime, and that it shouldn't be seen as a viable alternative.

"The first thing we need to look at is minimizing the overall detention and supervision of migrants only to the cases where the person is deemed a risk to Canadian society either because of criminality or security risk," she said. "Electronic monitoring is an intrusion on people's' privacy and I'm worried CBSA would use it in cases where people wouldn't have been held in detention in the first place."

The CBSA already allows immigration detainees to be released into the community on bail, and if they abide by other conditions, while their immigration proceedings are ongoing.

Cleveland said that while detention is the most effective way for CBSA to keep control over asylum seekers pending a decision in their case, it comes at a high cost.

Her 2013 study found that one third of immigration detainees suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after one month in detention. She also found that two-thirds became anxious and depressed. And even after their release into the community, these mental health impacts persisted for long periods of time.

"Detaining migrants who pose no security threat, especially in jail, is just wrong," she said.

Last week, 140 medical professionals put out a statement calling on CBSA to immediately stop transferring immigration detainees to provincial jails.

Canada's public safety minister has said he's looking into the CBSA's detention program and plans to strike a committee to review the overall operations of the agency. But it's unclear exactly when that will take place.

Follow Rachel Browne on Twitter: @rp_browne