The University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, has published a disturbing report detailing breaches of Canada's international human rights obligations through prolonged detentions of psychologically unwell detainees. A link to the report is contained in the below article:
Although the legal presumptions to release are formidable, as noted in the report, there is an underlying access to justice issue which makes it even more difficult for these detainees to obtain release. With such detainees either unaware or unable to access provincial legal assistance programs, their indefinite detention, without recourse to experienced and competent counsel, becomes inevitable. 30 day detention reviews with detainees who have limited resources and connections to the community become perfunctory exercises that ensure continued detention. What is particularly galling is that most of these detainees pose no risk to Canadians, yet their upkeep costs millions of dollars per year in taxpayer dollars. Given the Minister's flimsy justification of denial of basic healthcare to refugees in Canada on the basis of costs it would be nice to see a similar cost benefit rationale applied to the detention system. Alas, we fear the radical honesty required to conduct such an assessment is well beyond the abilities of the current administration and this Minister.
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