In order to ensure the fairness and integrity of Canada’s immigration and refugee systems, and to protect the safety and security of the Canadian public, it is essential that government authorities have the ability to detain, to impose conditions of release, and to remove those who are inadmissible to Canada.
The Canadian government’s justification of the ability to detain an immigrant or refugee for the protection of the country, 2012
The Canadian government voices many of its impending perspectives through the Committee on Institutional Cooperation’s newsletter. It is utilized to report current events that are important to the government at the time and also reveals certain opinions or explanations of governmental policies. This was created in response to the concern of mandatory detention of illegal immigrants that were considered “irregular arrivals”. Immigrants were deemed “irregular arrivals” on administrative grounds solely based on suspicion. This detainment of immigrants purely based off of ‘suspicion’ is justified through the protection of the country, but is an unjustified policy as it violates human rights based off of opinion. This policy is very susceptible to corruption and unjustified behavior as it relies on the viewpoint of their governmental workers.
The ability for the Canadian government to detain immigrants and refugees according to Catherine Dauvergne, author of International Human Rights in Canadian Immigration Law—The Case of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, violates the basic International human rights law. However, this reveals an ethical dilemma because this mistreatment of immigrants better ensures the security of the country. Does security come with a cost? Or can the Canadian government avoid this cost without threatening the security of the country?
Being a governmental run agency, this source reveals the government’s viewpoint and justification of their immigration policy. The intended audience of the document is those who criticize the government’s policy on immigration detainment to reveal the government’s rationale. It provides an image of the how the government views their detainment policy in 2012.
Gavin Lewis