Question Period Note: Immigration Detention

• Immigration Detention – Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Correctional Service Canada (CSC) assistance agreement: Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines facility

• With the loss of access to provincial correctional facilities, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is currently upgrading its immigration holding centres to house high-risk detainees.

• To safely manage high-risk detainees, the CBSA will also be using vacant Correctional Service Canada infrastructure in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec. This holding centre will only be used to detain adult males who present a significant risk to public safety.

• Of individuals requiring CBSA supervision, 98.8% are enrolled in an alternative to detention, only 1% are detained in a CBSA Immigration Holding Centre, and 0.2% are detained in a provincial correctional facility.

• The priority remains to remove inadmissible individuals from Canada as soon as possible, with a focus on those who are inadmissible for serious criminality.

Information to support statements made in the Key Messages
Canada’s Immigration Detention Program is governed by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and its regulations.
Immigration detention is based on the principle that detention shall be used only as a measure of last resort, in limited circumstances.
Over the last eight years, the CBSA has reduced the use of detention by increasing alternatives to detention, such as in-person and remote reporting, Community Case Management and Supervision, and Electronic Monitoring. However, in certain cases, detention is deemed necessary when:
1) an individual presents a risk to public safety (for example, when an individual has a documented history or pattern of violent or aggressive crimes/behaviour),
2) the CBSA is unable to establish an individual’s legitimate identity, and/or
3) the behaviour of the individual threatens program integrity (such as immigration proceedings or removal).

As of May 21, 2025, the percentage breakdown for type of immigration detention is:
• 98.8% enrolled in alternatives to detention
• 1% were held in an immigration holding centre
• 0.2% were detained in a provincial correctional facility

Historically, the CBSA partnered with provincial governments to have individuals who were assessed as high-risk held in provincial correctional facilities. This allowed the CBSA to manage public safety risks in cases that could not be managed through other means, such as alternatives to detention or within CBSA immigration holding centres.
Following multiple provincial governments’ decisions to withdraw from immigration detention arrangements, the CBSA started making significant infrastructure upgrades and changes to its operations and staffing in order to house high-risk detainees in separate and enhanced areas of its immigration holding centres. The CBSA currently has the capacity to hold low-to-medium-risk cases in their immigration holding centres, and once retrofitting projects are completed, these facilities will be able to hold high-risk cases as well. In addition, further to an arrangement between the CBSA and Correctional Service Canada to allow for the use (until June 2029) of federal correctional facilities for the purpose of high-risk immigration detention, the CBSA is creating capacity in a Designated Immigrant Station within the Regional Reception Centre located in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec. Once ready, the location will only be used to detain high-risk adult males who pose a significant risk to public safety.

Updated policies, procedures, and training are being implemented, and increased tools and staffing complements are being introduced, to ensure immigration holding centre and Designated Immigrant Station staff are adequately prepared and resourced. These measures will ensure that the CBSA is able to continue to detain all individuals subject to enforcement measures under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, for whom release on an alternative to detention is not an option. The CBSA continues to work with partners to maintain community safety, and to ensure all immigration detainees are treated in a dignified and compassionate manner.

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