Concerns mount over ‘criminalization’ of detained migrants in Canada
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OTTAWA — The Canada Border Services Agency will soon force all border-security officers working with detained migrants to wear defensive gear, drawing widespread concern over a perceived “criminalization” of asylum-seekers.
The mandatory equipment includes batons, pepper spray and bulletproof vests.
The national policy was adopted internally last year after CBSA began moving what it deems “higher-risk immigration detainees” from provincial jails, where they were being held for security purposes, into one of the agency’s three immigration holding centres.
Information obtained under access-to-information law shows the agency decided all officers working in these centres must be outfitted in protective and defensive equipment to ensure a common operational approach.
