Canada deported thousands of people even as Covid-19 raged last year, data seen by Reuters showed, and lawyers say deportations are ramping up, putting people needlessly at risk in the midst of a global health emergency.
Like many other countries, Canada is struggling to stop a second wave from spiralling out of control, and its political leaders are begging residents to stay home to prevent the spread.
Lawyers and human rights advocates are decrying Canada’s November decision to resume deportations.
Until now, the extent of the country’s pandemic deportations was not known, but recent interviews with immigration lawyers and scrutiny of government numbers has shed light on the situation.
Canada counted 12,122 people as removed in 2020 — 875 more than the previous year and the highest number since at least 2015, according to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) data.
The government says this was necessary and done safely.
The CBSA says the high number last year is because it includes people who decided to leave on their own, termed “administrative removals.” In 2019 there were 1,657 administrative removals, compared with 8,215 last year.
Even subtracting those numbers, that leaves thousands of people deported as the pandemic raged and governments cautioned against travel of any kind for safety reasons.
Even as Canada continues to deport non-citizens during a health crisis, US President Joe Biden paused deportations for 100 days within hours of being sworn in on Wednesday.
Canada officially imposed a moratorium on deportations in March that it lifted at the end of November.
“As much as a human rights concern it’s a common sense concern,” said Bill Frelick, director of Human Rights Watch’s Refugee Rights Programme.
Countries’ deportation practices have varied over the course of the pandemic. Several, including the UK, suspended deportations before resuming them.
Others, like Ireland, have kept suspensions in place.
The CBSA said it has been prioritising deportations for reasons of “serious admissibility,” including criminality.
The vast majority of people deported in 2020 were for reasons of “non-compliance.” Even taking into account administrative removals, more than 1,000 people were deported during the suspension, the data shows.
Public health experts have warned that travel of any kind can spread Covid-19 from one place to another, a risk that grows with the advent of more highly transmissible Covid variants.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves a news conference at Rideau Cottage, as efforts continue to help slow the spread of the coronavirus disease, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
