Healthcare providers call on Canadian government to end family separation and immigration detention
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By
Drs. Michaela Beder and Michelle Cohen
Toronto, June 27, 2018 –
Over 2000 healthcare organizations and healthcare providers, including doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists and midwives have signed on to an open letter, calling on the Canadian government to take the following four actions immediately:
1. End child detention and family separation in Canada
2. End immigration detention in Canada
3. End the Safe Third Country Agreement
4. Call on the United States to end its practice of child and family detention
The organizations supporting the statement include: the Canadian Pediatric Society, the Ontario Association of Social Workers, the University of Toronto Department of Psychiatry, the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, the Canadian Association of Community Health Centres, the Ontario Psychiatric Association, the Federation of Medical Women of Canada, the Canadian Federation of Medical Students, the Department of Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Children's Mental Health Ontario and many more.
“The long-lasting impacts of childhood trauma are well known, and we are gravely concerned about the trauma being inflicted as thousands of children are being detained and separated from their families across the United States. We have ample evidence that these practices are harmful both on an individual and a community level,” said Dr. Michelle Cohen, family physician. “Canada also detains children and separates migrant families and this needs to stop immediately. We call on the Canadian government to end immigration detention and family separation here and condemn in the strongest possible terms the actions of the Trump administration.”
In recent years hundreds of children, and thousands of adults, have been detained in Canada for immigration-related reasons, sometimes for months and even years.
"Canada jails migrants indefinitely, and separates us from our families - immigration detention is unjust, brutal and deadly, and it must end," said Olukunle Adetunji, member of End Immigration Detention Network and a father of three who was detained for 15 months in Canada. "We need permanent resident status for all of us, and immigration detainees need to be consulted about changes - nothing about us without us!"
“The mental health impacts of immigration detention are severe,” said Dr. Michaela Beder, a psychiatrist in Toronto who works with refugees and with people in immigration detention. “After even a short period in detention, adults experience elevated rates of PTSD, anxiety and depression symptoms, and children were found to have disrupted sleep, a loss of appetite and regression of developmental milestones. The time is now for the Canadian government to end immigration detention and family separation.”
