Liberals want to end jailing of child migrants, public safety minister says

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says he wants toend the Canada Border Services Agency's practice of detaining childmigrants.

Goodale told a Senate committee on Monday his department islooking at alternatives to locking away children, but headded theissue is complex and requires study.

"There are problems in the system that go beyond simply changingprocedures," Goodale said. "Physical capacity is anissue. And weneed to make some changes there in order to accommodatealternatives."

In a confidential inspection report made public in January, theRed Cross said Canada should jail child immigrants onlyas a "lastresort" and must find alternatives to detention for such vulnerablenewcomers.

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The border services agency holds people who are considered aflight risk or a danger to the public and those whoseidentitiescannot be confirmed.

The Red Cross says the border agency detained 10,088 immigrants almost one-fifth of them refugee claimantsin2013-14 in a varietyof facilities, including federal holding centres and provincial andmunicipal jails.

Among these were at least 197 minors, held an average of about 10days each.

Higher number of detainees

However, the number of young detainees was almost certainlyhigher because the figures did not include those whowere notformally part of a detention order, but nonetheless found themselvesbehind bars with a parent orguardian.

At the committee hearing Monday, Liberal Sen. Mobina Jafferpressed Goodale to commit that Canada would no longerdetainyoungsters.

"I wish I could give an absolute, iron-clad undertaking on thatpoint," Goodale replied."I need to make some changes in the system, including in thephysical capacity of the system, in order to make suchanunequivocal undertaking. I want to get to that point."

Goodale, who recently visited an immigration holding centre inBritish Columbia, said he has discussed the issue withthe UnitedNations High Commission for Refugees, refugee advocacy organizationsand the B.C. Civil LibertiesAssociation.

Federal authorities are looking into alternatives to detainingnewcomers, such as bail and electronic monitoring, theministeradded.

"I have asked my officials to work on all of these alternatives together with any issues around resources or budgetthat may benecessaryto make sure that detention is used in only the caseswhen that is absolutelyessential and there are no alternatives,that the facilities are upgraded, and that we seek to avoiddetentionof children altogether."

When keeping children out of detention involves separating themfrom their parents, it's a "delicate issue,"he toldJaffer.

"It's not quite as simple as it seems, but my objective iscertainly in line with yours."

Goodale said the lack of independent review of border officerconduct "is a gap that definitely needs to be addressed."

However, Goodale said while he agrees with the spirit behind asenator's private bill to create an inspector general forthe borderagency, he could not support the initiative.

He noted the government is about to begin a broad, publicconsultation process on the national security framework,which couldlead to creation of an inspector like the one outlined in the bill.

"I need that consultation before I can commit to specificlegislation."

In addition, Goodale said he has asked officials to do a "broad,internal assessment" of all review functions withinthePublicSafety portfolio including the watchdogs over the RCMP and CSISto identify both gaps and bestpractices.