Support Alvin Brown, Detained & Deported by Canada
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Support Alvin Brown, detained by Canada for 5 years then deported!
Urgent call to help support a survivor of Canada’s migrant detention system
Alvin Brown is a victim of Canada’s violent and unjust migrant detention system. He needs our support in Jamaica.
Adopted from Jamaica by a Canadian family in 1983, Alvin was just eight years old when he immigrated here and acquired permanent residency. After living in Canada for 28 years, having established a life and family, Alvin was detained in 2011 by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). He was held in maximum security prisons as a migrant detainee for five years while CBSA and the Jamaican government made arrangements for his removal. CBSA spent three of those years looking for documents that didn’t exist for Alvin, like a birth certificate, instead of his adoption papers. During his time in prison Alvin developed severe mental health issues and was denied adequate care and appropriate medication. Despite worsening mental health, Alvin was deported in 2016 to Jamaica, where he lives now without community or support, far from his family. He is struggling to get by and afford his medication.
Canada is one of the only western countries without a time limit on migrant detentions. While most other countries have a presumptive period of 6 months, after which migrants are released, Canada’s presumptive period is indefinite. This means migrant detainees are held without ever knowing when or if they will be released. Because of racism within the CBSA and police, this system disproportionately targets Black and brown people.
In 2013, Alvin joined 191 other detainees in a long term hunger strike, protesting terrible prison conditions including being denied phone calls, visits from their families, legal counsel, and access to appropriate dietary foods. In 2014, three years into his detention, Alvin challenged this unjust system, arguing that indefinite detention is violent and unconstitutional. His legal challenge led to an audit of the Immigration Division and CBSA, calling for serious changes in how detention reviews are run. Though Alvin lost his case in the Immigration Division and Federal Court, he bravely took his case to the Supreme Court. A win would have greatly improved the rights of migrants in Canada. Sadly, the Court threw out the appeal. We are devastated but unsurprised at the ongoing violence toward BIPOC migrants by Canada.
No One Is Illegal and the Migrant Detainee Support Committee has been a main support for Alvin since 2013 and has continued to help him after his deportation to Jamaica. We are hoping to raise a stable funding source so we can assure him he’ll have help in the months and years to come.
Help support Alvin to afford his medication while he fights for an end to indefinite detention and the rights of current and future migrants. Please give what you can!
More on the EIDN and Alvin Brown’s Supreme Court case in the media:
Law Times News
CTV
Global News
Learn more about immigration detention in Canada and the End Immigration Detention Network
Learn about the rights of migrant peoples in Canada:Migrants Know Your Rights Guide
Urgent call to help support a survivor of Canada’s migrant detention system
Alvin Brown is a victim of Canada’s violent and unjust migrant detention system. He needs our support in Jamaica.
Adopted from Jamaica by a Canadian family in 1983, Alvin was just eight years old when he immigrated here and acquired permanent residency. After living in Canada for 28 years, having established a life and family, Alvin was detained in 2011 by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). He was held in maximum security prisons as a migrant detainee for five years while CBSA and the Jamaican government made arrangements for his removal. CBSA spent three of those years looking for documents that didn’t exist for Alvin, like a birth certificate, instead of his adoption papers. During his time in prison Alvin developed severe mental health issues and was denied adequate care and appropriate medication. Despite worsening mental health, Alvin was deported in 2016 to Jamaica, where he lives now without community or support, far from his family. He is struggling to get by and afford his medication.
Canada is one of the only western countries without a time limit on migrant detentions. While most other countries have a presumptive period of 6 months, after which migrants are released, Canada’s presumptive period is indefinite. This means migrant detainees are held without ever knowing when or if they will be released. Because of racism within the CBSA and police, this system disproportionately targets Black and brown people.
In 2013, Alvin joined 191 other detainees in a long term hunger strike, protesting terrible prison conditions including being denied phone calls, visits from their families, legal counsel, and access to appropriate dietary foods. In 2014, three years into his detention, Alvin challenged this unjust system, arguing that indefinite detention is violent and unconstitutional. His legal challenge led to an audit of the Immigration Division and CBSA, calling for serious changes in how detention reviews are run. Though Alvin lost his case in the Immigration Division and Federal Court, he bravely took his case to the Supreme Court. A win would have greatly improved the rights of migrants in Canada. Sadly, the Court threw out the appeal. We are devastated but unsurprised at the ongoing violence toward BIPOC migrants by Canada.
No One Is Illegal and the Migrant Detainee Support Committee has been a main support for Alvin since 2013 and has continued to help him after his deportation to Jamaica. We are hoping to raise a stable funding source so we can assure him he’ll have help in the months and years to come.
Help support Alvin to afford his medication while he fights for an end to indefinite detention and the rights of current and future migrants. Please give what you can!
More on the EIDN and Alvin Brown’s Supreme Court case in the media:
Law Times News
CTV
Global News
Learn more about immigration detention in Canada and the End Immigration Detention Network
Learn about the rights of migrant peoples in Canada:Migrants Know Your Rights Guide
Organizer
No One Is Illegal
Organizer
Toronto, ON
