Most Recent Canadian Immigration
Detention Statistics
- Action Réfugiés Montréal, November 11, 2003 -
Canada's Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) produces a weekly "detention snapshot," which shows how many people were in immigration detention during a particular week. In 2003, they have shared figures starting from June 15 to October 11.

From these statistics, we can see that during any one week, over the period covered:

- an average of 681 people were in immigration detention in Canada.
- of these, an average of 341 people were in provincial jails and the rest (339) were in immigration holding centres.
- 67 per cent of detainees were in Ontario, 18 per cent in Quebec, 3 per cent in the Prairies and Territories, 11 per cent in B.C./Yukon and less than 1 per cent in the Atlantic.
- despite its immigration detention centre, Ontario specializes in detention in provincial jails, with an average of 253 in jail, compared to 201 in the immigration centre.
- by contrast, in Québec, there is an average of 24 in jails, compared to 101 in the immigration centre.
- there is some significant variation in the numbers detained over the period covered: the lowest was the week of July 27 to August 2 (574 people detained) and the highest was the week of September 14-20 (753 people detained).

Persons released and removed (statistics available starting July 13):

- each week an average of 202 people were released or removed.
- an average of 144 (71 per cent) of them were released and an average of 58 (29 per cent) were removed.

Minors:

- there were on average 17 minors in detention, most of them accompanied (13), but on any day there may have been one unaccompanied minor in detention.
- the highest number of minors in detention was found between September 14-20 (35 minors) and the lowest between July 27-August 2 (4 minors).

Gender:

- on average, 83 per cent of the detainees are male. This gender ratio remains fairly constant.

Source:

- an average of 57 per cent of detainees originate from inland claims. 42 per cent are detained at a port of entry. This ratio remains fairly constant.

Refugee claimants:

- of those detained, an average of 44 per cent are refugee claimants. An average of 46 per cent of detainees are not refugee claimants. An average of 10 per cent are failed refugee claimants.

Grounds for detention (statistics available starting June 22):

- a detainee may be detained for multiple reasons.
- during any given week, an average of 8.5 per cent are held for identity reasons.
- an average of 55.1 per cent are believed to be unlikely to appear for removal.
- an average of 5.8 per cent are believed to be unlikely to appear for minister's proceedings.
- an average of 14.3 per cent are believed to be unlikely to appear for admissibility hearings.
- an average of 16.5 per cent are believed to be unlikely to appear for continuation of examination.
- an average of 15 per cent are considered a danger to the public.
- an average of 9 people (1.4 per cent) are detained for security concerns or on a security certificate.
- these percentages can vary widely.

Criminality (statistics available starting July 6):

- a detainee may qualify to be classified under more than one category of criminality.
- an average of 12.1 per cent of detainees are classified under "criminality"
- an average of 20.5 per cent of detainees are classified under "serious criminality"
- an average of 6 people are classified under "human/international rights violations"
- an average of 3 people are classified under "organized crime"
- an average of 2 people are classified under "smuggling/trafficking"

CIC warns us that that these statistics are manually tabulated and may contain inaccuracies.