Why are immigration detainees being held in maximum-security jails?

Plus, Ontario's lack of accessible housing and why the Buffalo mass shooting hits close to home [The Star] First Up [By Manuela Vega] By Manuela Vega Good morning. Here’s the latest on Canada’s use of jails for immigration detainees, the lack of accessible housing for people with disabilities and the mass shooting that targeted a Black neighbourhood. DON’T MISS Giovanni Capriotti for The Star immigration [Former immigration detainees are launching a class-action suit against Canada for its use of jails ]( In an Immigration Holding Centre, detainees can wear their own clothes, have multiple daily visits and are not confined to cells. But in provincial jails, detainees are issued prison uniforms, they’re subject to violence and they can be placed in solitary confinement. Which location immigration detainees end up in is up to a simple administrative form completed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Now, a new lawsuit is taking aim at Canada’s use of maximum-security provincial jails for immigration matters. [Here’s why former detainees say their charter rights have been violated](. - Context: Immigration detainees are not criminally charged and their detention is not supposed to be punitive. Still, people waiting on immigration hearings are getting the same treatment as those convicted of a crime. - More: Although the average holding time is three weeks, Canada has held more than 300 detainees for a year or longer since 2016.  - Why it matters: The two plaintiffs suffer from PTSD, anxiety and depression as a result of the conditions they were held in as immigration detainees. - Meanwhile: The Canadian branches of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are lobbying provinces to cancel their contracts with the CBSA, saying its treatment of immigration detainees violates international human rights laws. Peter Power for The Star housing [This family has moved eight times in eight years in search of wheelchair-accessible housing]( Khadija Zafar’s family has lived in Hamilton, Burlington and now Waterdown. But she and her husband still can’t find a home that meets the needs of their eight-year-old son with spastic quadraplegic cerebral palsy. Although his wheelchair grants him independence in many scenarios, the lack of accessibility in the housing market creates every-day barriers; their last home had stairs to the bedroom and to street level. Despite 2.6 million Ontarians being disabled, there’s no provincial policy mandating barrier-free housing. [Here are some of the challenges one family has faced on their search for a home](. - More: “As a mother we always have so much guilt in general but on top of that, you put a child with (a) disability and the things you can’t provide for them, you just feel terrible,” said Zafar. - Now what? The co-chair of The Accessible Housing Network says the Ontario Building Code must require all new housing to be universal design, and several MPP candidates have signed on. Matt Rourke/AP Photo united states [The Buffalo mass shooting hits too close to home in Toronto]( Ten people were killed and another three were injured over the weekend thanks to a white man equipped with racist conspiracy theories and an assault rifle, Buffalo police say. The mass shooting in a Black neighbourhood is being felt deeply in Toronto, where many think of Buffalo as an extension of the city, Edward Keenan writes. Canada is no stranger to hate-motivated attacks, but the ease with which anyone can access guns in the U.S. has normalised mass shootings — at least 70 occurred in the decade leading up to 2022. Plus, some of the shooters behind the worst massacres in recent years have touted shared ideologies. [Here’s what we know about the racist ideas that motivated the Buffalo shooter]( — and that are becoming increasingly common in right-wing politics. - Watch: The Buffalo shooting victims were beloved members of the community. [Here’s how they’re being remembered](. [Get a front-row seat this provincial election] Get a front-row seat this provincial election. As the Ontario election heats up, you need This Week in Politics, featuring exclusive analysis from Queen’s Park bureau chief Robert Benzie and columnist Susan Delacourt. [Sign up here]( and you’ll start receiving their insight on what just happened, what it means — and what’s coming next. WHAT ELSE At their final debate, Ontario leaders [sparred over COVID, affordability and the climate crisis](. Fewer than half of Toronto councillors have taken [anti-racism training mandatory for city employees](. A murder trial saw video of[two Métis hunters being gunned down on a rural road](. Canada isn’t as pro-choice as you might think. [Here’s what you need to know](. “[She was crying and she was hyperventilating]( A complainant’s mom testified at the trial of Jacob Hoggard. A driver was [sentenced to 17 years]( for the “catastrophic” crash that killed a GTA mom and her three daughters. A cyclist was left with “life-altering injuries” in a Lake Shore crash. [Here’s why cycling advocates are decrying the city’s unsafe streets](. Here’s why the new image of a supermassive black hole is an [“extraordinary validation” of Albert Einstein’s best-known theory](. Canadian businesses are facing a wave of bankruptcies — [and some fear this is just the start](. Here’s why McDonald’s decided to leave Russia — [and what might happen next](. Every off-season move the Leafs make will be about Auston Matthews. [The stakes are high](. This is the best thing Canada can do to [get through inflation](. POV Maya Levin/AP Photo [The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank spotlights the danger faced by both journalists and Palestinians.]( CLOSE-UP Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP UKRAINE: A man stands by a destroyed bridge near the village of Rus’ka Lozova, north of Kharkiv, on Monday. Ukraine said its troops have regained control of territory on the Russian border near the country’s second-largest city, which has been under constant fire since Moscow’s invasion began. Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at [firstup@thestar.ca](mailto:firstup@thestar.ca?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=emailutm_email=6C53B63A8E3FAD70AD4EF13004527437&utm_campaign=frst_123963). I’ll see you back here tomorrow. [The Star]( If you're not enjoying these emails, please tell us how we can make them better by emailing newsletterfeedback@thestar.ca. Or, if you'd prefer, you can unsubscribe from this newsletter by clicking the first link below. 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