Some migrants facing deportation go to these holding centres. CBC News went inside one
CBC
Parts of Toronto's Immigration Holding Centre — where migrants are detained by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) before they're either deported or released into the community to wait for their immigration cases to be heard — look like university dorm rooms.
Minley Lloyd is a CBSA assistant director of immigration enforcement operations. She points out a gym with yoga mats and weight training equipment, a small library that doubles as a prayer room, and bedrooms that open onto a shared common lounge with sofas and TVs.
Outside, there's a playground and soccer field — surrounded by wire fences.
"It's definitely from a look and feel perspective, not what you think of when you think about a jail or detention centre, and immigration detention is very unique in that sense ..." said Sajjad Bhatti, a CBSA director of immigration enforcement operations.
"Ultimately, it is not a detention for corrective purposes."
The layout of the centre, to which CBC News was granted exclusive access this week, highlights the unique nature of immigration detention. Those living there aren't allowed to leave the facility, even though they haven't been charged with any crimes.
For years, provinces imprisoned some migrants in jails while officials determined whether they would be deported to their countries of origin. But that meant forcing migrants to rub elbows with people charged with or convicted of crimes.
One Somali man told Radio-Canada in 2023 that he spent five years and seven months in maximum security jails in Ontario. At one point, he said, he was attacked by inmates because of a dispute over peanut butter that turned violent.
International organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International campaigned against the practice and released a report in 2021 that alleged detainees were facing abusive conditions.
Beginning in 2022, all 10 provinces agreed they would no longer incarcerate migrants on behalf of the federal government and gave CBSA one year's notice, as required by some of their contracts. Ontario recently extended its contract until September 2025.
Although CBSA officials highlight the amenities of their holding centres, there are still areas that resemble jails.
In the Toronto location, there are three "wet cells" with plastic beds bolted to the floor, security cameras and detention-grade doors. Lloyd said they're meant for high-risk detainees who could be violent in the standard dorm rooms.
"We do not like to use this. As you can tell, it is a very stark area," Lloyd added.
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