“An Aberration”: Voice from the Laval Immigration Detention Center in Montreal

Let us speak of freedom! Does it really exist in the proper sense of the word? In a country that claims no torture, or executions, where hidden racism and the hypocrisy of disguised torture work to silence through psychological pressure, where immigrants are treated as imported goods, where domestic animals are better treated and respected than humans – humans with the right to live in full dignity and express themselves?

It is a freedom stained with injustice, especially the injustice facing immigrants who wait for regularization, who are locked up in the Laval Immigration Prevention Centre as Immigration uproots and destroys family lives and displaces immigrants in handcuffs like real criminals.

Immigration counts on its officers who are on the most part inexperienced and ambitious – who are quick and easy to strike down on immigrants in order to prove themselves and get more recognition in their careers. What unforgivable offence have immigrants committed to be so mistreated and humiliated? Is this a life of immigration or humiliation?

For whatever reason, should any young Immigration officer ever have the right to deport immigrants and knowingly throw them back into the lion’s mouth? What happens to them when they return? Confronted with this question, Immigration remains insensitive and care-free. It plays down the precarious situations facing immigrants and minimizes their problems to justify their politics of oppression.

Solidarity Across Borders Montreal, www.solidarityacrossborders.org