Meet 15 year old Obatofunmi (Oba) Olubunmi-Davies, an immigrant to Canada. He moved to Winnipeg in 2016 because his Mother wanted a better life for her and her two sons. Right before Covid hit in March 2020, after bouncing around from apartment-to-apartment, the three relocated to a house and that is where Oba not only discovered his love for basketball, a sport as foreign to him as the Canadian winter, but also his gift for this Canadian sport, 8 August, 2022, Toronto, Canada. Photo Credit: Toronto Star
Society CanadaCome One, Come All: Here, Immigration Detention Is Over
After reviewing its immigration detention contract, British Columbia became the first Canadian province to stop detaining immigrants and asylum-seekers solely on immigration grounds, a historic move that may encourage other provinces to also end the harmful practice.
“Today’s decision is a momentous step,” says Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada. “This is a true human rights victory, one which upholds the dignity and rights of people who come to Canada in search of safety or a better life.”
British Columbia has decided to terminate its contract with the Canada Border Services Agency for immigration detention which incarcerated hundreds of people over the past five years. Further, there was no legal limit on the duration of imprisonment under said contract. The #WelcomeToCanada campaign – which grouped together Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and advocates across the country – started in British Columbia in October 2021 and expanded to the provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia, paving the way to end immigration detention in provincial jails.
