Chief Mark Saunders
Toronto Police Service
40 College Street
Toronto, Ontario M5G 2J3
Dear Chief Saunders:
Re: City of Toronto’s Sanctuary City Policy
We are community organizations who work with people with precarious immigration status, and are supporters of the City of Toronto’s Sanctuary City policy.
In a recent editorial, the Toronto Star quoted from a study by Ryerson University which found that Toronto has never dedicated adequate leadership, planning and funding to make real the Council’s 2013 motion making Toronto a Sanctuary City. Even more disconcerting is the finding that Toronto Police are “flagrantly ignoring” their own Board’s policies on undocumented migrants by asking victims, witnesses, and complainants their immigration status and passing it on to the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA).
The same editorial includes a comment attributed to the spokesperson of Toronto Police Services (TPS) Mark Pugash who says police do not ask for immigration documentation “unless it’s relevant. But if you become aware of (illegal immigration status), you are required by law to report it.”
Contrary to what Mr. Pugash has said, there is no legal obligation on the part of police to report anyone with precarious immigration status to the CBSA and as such the statement is simply legally wrong.
While s.142 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act requires peace officers to execute any warrant or order for arrest, detention or removal from Canada, in the absence of any such warrant or order, the Act does not obligate peace officers to report someone to CBSA simply because they are undocumented.
At best, Mr. Pugash’s statement demonstrates a complete ignorance about the law. At worst, it signifies a refusal on the part of TPS to abide by the 2013 Access Without Fear motion passed by Toronto City Council.
Outside of an arrest warrant it is simply impossible for police officers to determine who is in or out of status due to the complexities of the immigration legislation on the one hand, and police officers’ lack of expertise in immigration law on the other. There are potentially many individuals with various types of precarious status who are easy victims if police officers improvise as immigration status experts.
We are extremely concerned that some police officers and members of the public may take Mr. Pugash’s comment as an invitation to go after anyone that they regard as “illegal”. In this climate of xenophobia, racism and islamophobia, those who are most likely be targeted by such action will be people of colour, and people who appear to be of Muslim faith.
As the leader of the largest police service in Canada, (and one of the largest in North America) we call on you to immediately issue a public announcement to correct your staff’s inaccurate statement, and to state your own commitment to protect and serve all Torontonians regardless of their immigration status.
We also call on you to start operationalizing the City’s Access Without Fear policy by requiring all officers to stop reporting victims, witnesses and complainants with precarious status to the CBSA.
Yours truly,
Debbie Douglas, Executive Director, OCASI – Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
Loly Rico, President, Canadian Council for Refugees
Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples
Michael Kerr, Coordinator, Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change
Ibrahim Absiye, Executive Director, CultureLink
East Toronto Community Legal Services
Francisco Rico-Martinez, FCJ Refugee Centre
Flemingdon Community Legal Services
Immigration Legal Committee of the Law Union of Ontario
Inter-Clinic Immigration Working Group
Jennifer Stone, Neighbourhood Legal Services
No One is Illegal – Toronto
Avvy Go, Clinic Director, Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic
Parkdale Community Legal Services
Catherine Bruce, Director - Refugee and Immigration Legal Services, GTA, Refugee Law Office
Eusabio Garcia, Salvadorean Canadian Association
Shalini Konanur, Executive Director, South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario
CC. Mayor John Tory
Toronto City Council
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Toronto must enforce its ‘sanctuary city’ status: Editorial
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