Ontario has announced the end of an agreement with the federal government that meant people detained by immigration officials could be kept in provincial jails.
The agreement between Ontario and the Canadian Border Services Agency saw people held for immigration reasons kept at provincial facilities originally designed for criminal offenders. The announcement comes after other provinces pulled out of similar deals.
In July 2022, British Columbia concluded a review of its immigration detainee agreement and announced plans to end it. Alberta followed in January, while Quebec tore up its agreement in June.
A spokesperson for Ontario’s solicitor general said the decision came after “several months of review,” pointing out the deal was signed by a previous government.
“Ontario’s correctional institutions should be focused on providing care and custody to individuals serving custodial sentences or on remand, not on immigration detainees, which is the federal government’s responsibility,” the spokesperson said in a statement sent to Global News.
The move was welcomed by the Ontario NDP, the Ford government’s opposition at Queen’s Park.
A statement issued on behalf of three MPPs said they were “relieved” Ontario had ended its agreement with the federal government.
“We are relieved to hear that Ontario will finally end their contract with the federal government that allows immigration detainees to be held in provincial jails,” deputy leader Doly Begum, MPP Bhutila Karpoche and critic John Vanthof said.
“Ontario will be the eighth province to put an end to this deeply concerning practice that undermines human rights.”
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