
Goodale shows no sign of meeting demands of hunger-striking detainees
TORONTO — Dozens of immigration detainees have entered a dangerous phase of their protest hunger strike, but there was little sign Thursday that the federal government would meet their demands.
Among those demands are an immediate meeting with Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and a 90-day limit on such detentions.
“Sometimes, it feels like we’re being kidnapped and held against our own wills,” Richard Chinedu Abuwa said over the phone from the Central East Correctional Centre, where he has been for more than two years. “Some of us sit here for months, years, and years upon end not knowing what our futures hold for us, and it just really sucks.”
Abuwa was one of more than 50 detainees who began refusing food — and in some cases liquids as well — 11 days ago. As of Wednesday, the federal government said, 15 detainees at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont., were still refusing meals.