E/CN.4/2006/7/Add.2
page 23
means persons belonging to vulnerable and marginalized social groups. In this context, the
Working Group also recommends to make available additional resources to cover unmet
needs for legal aid in the criminal justice system;
(c)
The detention of asylum-seekers remain exceptional. Moreover, the
Working Group recommends that the Government change the provisions in the
immigration law and/or their application policies which give rise to cases of unjustified
detention of migrants and asylum-seekers, as identified by the Working Group, and
strengthen the control of the Immigration Division over the decision-making by
immigration officers. The Working Group further recommends that the Government take
remedial action with regard to the practical aspects of immigration detention that impede
the effectiveness of the right to challenge detention, in particular the co-mingled detention
in criminal high security facilities;
(d)
The Government reconsider its policy of using administrative detention and
immigration law to detain persons suspected of involvement in terrorism and particularly
the use of security certificates. The Working Group recommends that detention of
terrorism suspects be imposed in the framework of criminal procedure and in accordance
with the corresponding safeguards enshrined in the relevant international law, in
particular articles 9, paragraph 3, and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, to which Canada is a party.
Notes
1
This provision was construed and given an ample remedial interpretation by the Supreme
Court of Canada in the Gladue judgement of 23 April 1999 (R. v. Gladue [1999] 1 S.C.R. 688).
2
R. v. Proulx, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 61.
3
Juristat, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, vol. 24, No. 10, Adult Correctional Services in
Canada, 2002/03, p. 4.
4
The CBSA provided the Working Group with statistics clearly evidencing this situation. In
the fiscal year 2003/04 the average days of detention per detainee in CBSA facilities
were 7.67, while in non-CBSA facilities (i.e. criminal detention centres) the average amounted
to 26.99 days.
5
In the Ahani case the United Nations Human Rights Committee found a violation of
article 9 (4) of the Covenant in the case of a person detained under a security certificate
(Ahani v. Canada, Comm. No. 1051/2002; (see CCPR/C/80/D/1051/2002 (2004), paras. 10.2
and 10.3). Mr. Ahani, who had been recognized as a refugee in Canada, was held in immigration
custody (without criminal charges being raised) for nine years, from June 1993 to June 2002,
when he was removed to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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