Activists oppose the imminent opening of a new migrant detention center in Laval and are calling on Ottawa to change its approach to the matter.
Posted at 5:56 p.m.
They gathered Sunday in front of the offices of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in Complexe Guy-Favreau, in downtown Montreal.
“We are here to tell people that we cannot commercialize migrants, that their place is not in a reintegration or re-education centre, that it makes no sense to parker like that in prisons, ”denounced the spokesperson for Solidarity Across Borders, Hady Anne.
The CBSA detains migrants who present a flight risk, who are unable to prove their identity or who are suspected of posing a danger to the public.
However, Solidarity Across Borders calls on Ottawa, which funded the construction of this new detention facility for migrants in Laval, the opening of which would be imminent, to review its approach in this area and regularize the situation of all immigrants in the country.
“We are all in a global village and we try to create problems that do not exist. All the people who are on Quebec soil or on Canadian soil are human beings, they only want the best for families,” insists Hady Anne.
The new immigration surveillance center in Laval will have an area of 8260 m² spread over 2 levels, can we read on the website of the company Tisseur, in charge of the work.
The establishment will notably consist of bedrooms, a meditation room, a multipurpose room, common areas, a library and a reading area, in order to “enhance the stay of the occupants “.
The cost of the project, the delivery of which was initially scheduled for 2021, is around 50 million. It is to replace the current centre, located a stone’s throw away and whose facilities had become obsolete.
Asked Sunday about the inauguration date of this new center, the CBSA did not respond immediately.