A 56-year-old father, detained at the Laval Immigration Holding Center while awaiting deportation to his country of origin, said he would commit suicide if sent away from his son who lives in Quebec. Watched day and night by security guards, he was left alone for 18 minutes. He took advantage of this moment without supervision to take his own life.
“This death could have been avoided if the supervision had been adequate,” coroner Denyse Langelier wrote in her inquest report dated October 21, 2022, that The duty obtained.
The Laval Immigration Monitoring Center accommodates foreign nationals without status or awaiting deportation to their country of birth. At the latest news, 66 migrants were detained in this brand new establishment which can accommodate 153 people.
Bryan Arthur Stone’s suicide occurred in custody on January 28, 2022. This American citizen was in deep distress. He had rebuilt his life in Quebec without having legal status in Canada. He had no work or study permit, permanent residency or Canadian citizenship.
Probably arrived in Quebec as a tourist, he had settled here. He had a son, friends, a home. Under unspecified circumstances, Bryan Arthur Stone was spotted by immigration authorities. He was held at the Immigration Holding Center beginning December 7, 2021, pending deportation to the United States.
“He does not accept this situation. He feels misunderstood, anxious, stressed and sad,” coroner Denyse Langelier said in her five-page inquest report into the death of Bryan Arthur Stone.
The “undocumented” American citizen made a first suicide attempt in the summer of 2020. He tried again to take his own life at the Laval detention center on January 24, 2022. From that moment on, he was placed in solitary confinement and under constant surveillance, by a guard and by a camera.
The detainee was to be the subject of a “close escort with constant visual”. His meals were served in a cabaret without a knife. He couldn’t have a razor or any sharp object in his possession.
During a security guard shift change, Mr. Stone asked to go to the bathroom. A guard would normally have accompanied him, but the inmate was left unattended. Eighteen minutes later, an officer found that the American national had taken his own life.
Supervision was “deficient”, concludes coroner Denyse Langelier. A private security agency was in charge of supervising the detainee. “Disciplinary sanctions were taken against one of the security guards,” she said.
Shaken sanity
Me Chantal Ianniciello, a lawyer specializing in immigration, wonders about the offer of mental health services at the Center de surveillance de Laval. Bryan Arthur Stone was not her client, but “it is clear that this gentleman there needed help”, she said after reading the coroner’s report into the death of the American national.
People who are detained take it quite hard, especially those who have never been to prison. They say to themselves: “What have I done? Why am I here?” And they don’t know how long it will last.
His clients in detention report to him difficulties in accessing a doctor, a nurse or a psychologist. As reported recently The dutythe mere fact of being detained can lead to mental health problems for foreign nationals who have no criminal record.
“People who are detained take it quite hard, especially those who have never been to prison. They say to themselves: “What have I done? Why am I here?” And they don’t know how long it’s going to last,” says M.e Ianniciello. A dismissal procedure also creates a lot of anxiety, says the lawyer.
By the time he took his own life, Bryan Arthur Stone had been detained for over seven weeks. According to the lawyer, this is a normal time for people waiting to be sent back to their country of origin. Administrative procedures can take some time.
A life on the fringe
It is rather rare, but not unusual, for American citizens to decide to stay in Canada after a tourist or business trip. “It’s easy to come and not leave. [M. Stone] may have been settled here for some time, ”says Chantal Ianniciello.
Without health insurance, without access to social programs and without work permits, these foreign nationals without status survive by working on the black market, with the financial assistance of relatives, with retirement income or thanks to an inheritance, explains the lawyer.
These undocumented people are often spotted by committing a simple violation of the Highway Safety Code. They can also attract attention by having abnormal behaviors because of mental health problems. Me Ianniciello says that, last month, a man without status was thus arrested because he was walking along the Décarie highway – at the risk of his life, on this landlocked and very busy artery. Others wear summer clothes in the bitterest winter cold.
Preventative measures
Bryan Arthur Stone had access to a doctor during his stay at the Laval detention center, says coroner Denyse Langelier’s report. It was the doctor who demanded continuous monitoring of the inmate to save his life.
Following this death, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) launched an administrative investigation. Immediate measures were taken before the conclusions of the inquest, said the coroner. The investigation recommended in particular:
to review the layout of the bathrooms so that equipment, furniture, fixtures and fittings are secured to prevent suicide;
to train agents in mental health;
to increase the hours of presence mental health professionals;
to modify the guide suicide prevention and to specify the mandatory rules of visual surveillance.
“This investigation by the Agency is exhaustive and the recommendations are numerous in order to prevent suicide and protect human life. Given the recommendations made by the Agency, it is not necessary for me to make recommendations that would have been in the same direction,” concluded the coroner.
At the time these lines were written, the CBSA had not been able to answer the questions of the To have to.
Need help ? Do not hesitate to call the Quebec Suicide Prevention Line: 1 866 APPELLE (1 866 277-3553).