SWAN joined a coalition of organizations to call for the end of incarceration of migrants in provincial jails.
“Since 2012, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) has prohibited temporary residents from working “with an employer who, on a regular basis, offers strip tease, erotic dance, escort services or erotic massages.” The IRPA effectively bars migrant women from engaging in sex work in Canada. In SWAN’s legal counsel’s view, the IRPA prohibitions on sex work violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, specifically Sections 7 and 15. It is in this legal context that SWAN posits interactions with CBSA and detention in provincial jails violate the rights of the women we serve.”
Our Recommendations to the Province of British Columbia:
- SWAN calls upon the Government of British Columbia to respect its human rights obligations by urgently cancelling its immigration detention agreement with the federal government.
- SWAN calls upon the Government of British Columbia to encourage federal authorities to abolish immigration detention across the country.”
You can read our submission to the Review of Immigration Detention in Provincial Jails and the Province of British Columbia’s Partnership with Canada Border Services Agency here.
In July 2022, the province announced it will end its agreement with the Canada Border Services Agency