Ontario Court of Appeal Directs Major Human Rights Case to Proceed to Trial as a Class Action
The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a certification order in a national human rights class action challenging Canada’s practice of placing immigration detainees in provincial jails.
The class action includes over 8,300 non-citizens detained by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in provincial and territorial prisons between 2016 and 2024. The class members were detained in jails for purely administrative reasons. None of the members of the certified class were detained for criminal charges.
The action alleges that the CBSA violated class members Charter rights and acted with systemic negligence by detaining class members in provincial and territorial prisons. Many class members were asylum seekers or permanent residents.
All provinces have now ended their immigration detention agreements and arrangements with the CBSA.
The Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed that claims alleging systemic negligence and breaches of sections 7, 9, 12 and 15 of the Charter should proceed to trial. These claims concern fundamental rights concerning liberty, arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, and discrimination. The Courts have ruled that those claims raise common legal and factual issues for the class which are deserving of adjudication at trial.
Foreman & Company is working with SSB Law Chambers and Phillips Barristers Professional Corporation to prosecute the Immigration Imprisonment Class Action on a national basis.
For more information regarding the class action, please view the case webpage or press release.