On Thursday, the BC government recognized the inherent human rights violations in their participation in the immigration detention regime. They committed to ending their arrangement with the Canada Border Services Agency locking up migrants in provincial jails within 12 months. We welcome this announcement and invite the BC government to implement a Sanctuary Province and examine other ways that they participate in the exclusionary and discriminatory deportation and detention system.
We also urge the federal government to take this opportunity to examine their own practices. If they try to ship migrants off to prisons in other provinces, even farther away from their community supports, we will resist. If they try shuffling more migrants to the federal detention centre in Surrey, where they have a playground and classrooms intended to detain children, we will resist. If they try to construct more federal detention centres, we will resist. If they increase so-called “alternatives to detention,” such as electronic monitoring, that create indefinite surveillance and control in our homes and communities, we will resist.
Ending the violence of deportation and detention is possible. We are fighting for Immigration Status for All!
