Abstract
This paper presents a literature review on restorative justice, immigration detention and alternatives to detention. I propose that a restorative justice approach and practices could be taken into consideration when developing ATD programs in Canada as well as for addressing current issues that surround immigration detention. Restorative justice is a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offence and to identify and address harms, needs and obligations collectively, with the objective to ‘heal’ and put things as right as possible (Zehr, 2015). There is a research gap in the field of restorative justice and immigration in general. Restorative justice traditionally aligns itself with the criminal justice system but has potential to be applied to many areas and its application to immigration issues is a relatively new area. As these concepts can provide for a new approach towards reconciling issues involving victims and offenders outside of criminal justice, an argument can be made that there is potential for the implementation of restorative justice to have value within immigration detention. Key Words: Restorative Justice, Alternatives to Detention, Immigration detention, Canada
Highlights
Immigration detention is increasingly becoming a more relevant and important topic in the realm of migration and human rights
Restorative justice is a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offence and to identify and address harms, needs and obligations collectively, with the objective to ‘heal’ and put things as right as possible. (Zehr, 2015)
Immigration detention in Canada is regulated by two significant statutes; the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR), which are followed by a number of policy guides by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) (Global Detention Project, 2018)
Summary
Immigration detention is increasingly becoming a more relevant and important topic in the realm of migration and human rights. This study will primarily focus on migrants who are detained in Canadian detention centres mostly in, but not limited to Ontario, as well as the relevant policy and the possible application of restorative justice to issues that surround immigration detention and application to ATD programming in Canada. An asylum seeker is someone who is seeking safety from persecution or harms and awaits a decision on the application for refugee status (IOM, 2018) These groups of migrants tend to be fleeing from persecution and are being detained as a result of who they are rather than what they have done I have chosen this particular subject is because this is often a demographic of individuals who are being criminalized through immigration detention in Canada, with limited access to immigrant services and resources. Government and grey literature data is essential for policy discourse analysis to assess the perspectives of how different sectors view problems
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