A challenge to Canada's immigration laws gets underway in Federal Court in Toronto today, with lawyers for a man held for years before his deportation to Jamaica arguing that indefinite immigration detention violated his constitutional rights and those of hundreds of others. His lawyers, including Jared Will, launched the landmark constitutional challenge two years ago, calling on the government to justify the practice of indefinite immigration detention. Since 2000, a total of 15 have died in custody, according to the advocacy group End Immigration Detention Network (EIDN). Jared Will, lawyer for Alvin Brown, argues that indefinite immigration detention violates Canada's charter protections, and constitutes cruel and unusual treatment. 'An opportunity for us to change'For its part, the federal government has said it's committed to making detention a last resort, and has launched consultations with the goal of developing a national immigration detention framework.

Source: CBC News May 15, 2017 09:01 UTC