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Exceptional State, Pragmatic Bureaucracy, and Indefinite Detention: The Case of the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2014

Mike Larsen
Affiliation:
Researcher, York Centre for International and Security Studies, York University, 353 York Lanes 4700 Keele St. Toronto, ON M3J 1P3mlarsen@yorku.ca
Justin Piché
Affiliation:
Carleton University, 7th Floor, Loeb Building, 1125 Colonel By Drive Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6jpiche@connect.carleton.ca

Abstract

The Kingston Immigration Holding Centre (KIHC) is a purpose-built prison for individuals subject to security certificates, located on the grounds of Millhaven Institution in Bath, Ontario. KIHC was created in 2006 in response to controversy over the use of provincial detention facilities for long-term security-certificate detention. While the security-certificate mechanism and its related processes have been the subject of a growing body of critical socio-legal scholarship, the juridico-political space of KIHC has yet to be described or problematized in depth. The present study addresses this gap by providing a detailed account of the history of the facility and an exploration of the interactions within the Canadian insecurity field that shaped its emergence, governing arrangement, and everyday operations. Given the paucity of publicly available official information about KIHC, our study draws extensively on material obtained through requests filed under the federal Access to Information Act. Building on the existing literature, we frame security-certificate detention as a form of normalized exceptionality made possible by counter-law and argue that it conforms to the juridico-political concept of the camp. We then proceed to describe how this particular camp came into being, with an emphasis on the role played by interactions between professionals and institutions within the Canadian security field. The interagency contractual arrangement between the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) that governs KIHC is outlined. We describe this arrangement as the product of the authority to detain indefinitely meeting the capacity to confine pragmatically, under the banner of national security, and consider its implications for CSC's correctional mandate. The KIHC facility emerges as an “ancillary exception,” the institutional reflection of attempts to reform and normalize the security-certificate mechanism. We conclude by making a case for the abolition of KIHC.

Résumé

Situé sur le site de l'Établissement de Millhaven à Bath en Ontario, le Centre de surveillance de l'immigration de Kingston (CSIK) est une prison spécialement construite pour détenir des individus sujets à des certificats de sécurité. Le CSIK fut créé en 2006 en réponse à la controverse concernant l'utilisation des établissements correctionnels de l'Ontario pour la détention à long-terme des individus en vertu d'un certificat de sécurité. Bien que le mécanisme des certificats de sécurité ainsi que les processus s'y rattachant ont été l'objet de nombreuses critiques académiques sociolégales, l'espace juridico-politique du CSIK n'a, jusqu'à présent, jamais été décrit ou problématisé en profondeur. Cette étude tente de combler cette lacune, d'une part, en présentant en détail l'historique de cet établissement et, d'autre part, en explorant les interactions au sein du champ canadien d'insécurité qui ont façonné l'émergence du CSIK, l'organisation de son administration ainsi que ses opérations quotidiennes. Puisqu'il existe une pénurie d'information officielle à propos du CSIK, notre étude se base sur de nombreux documents obtenus à l'aide de demandes faites en vertu de la Loi sur l'accès à l'information. Prenant en compte la littérature existante, nous présentons la détention en vertu de certificats de sécurité comme une contre-loi normalisée, rendue possible de manière exceptionnelle, et avançons l'idée selon laquelle celle-ci est conforme au concept juridico-politique du camp. Nous décrivons comment ce camp particulier est né, tout en mettant un accent particulier sur le rôle qu'ont jouées les interactions entre les professionnels et les institutions au sein du champ canadien d'insécurité. Nous présentons également l'accord interdépartemental contractuel entre le Service correctionnel du Canada (SCC) et l'Agence des services frontaliers du Canada (ASFC), c'est-à-dire l'accord à la base de l'administration du CSIK. Nous décrivons cet accord comme étant le résultat de la rencontre de deux pouvoirs, soit l'autorité de détenir infiniment et la capacité de détenir pragmatiquement sous la bannière de la sécurité nationale. Nous considérons les implications de cette rencontre pour le mandat correctionnel du SCC. Le CSIK émerge comme une «exception ancillaire«, c'est-à-dire une tentative institutionnelle de réformer et de normaliser le mécanisme des certificats de sécurité. Nous terminons l'article en argumentant favorablement pour l'abolissement du CSIK.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 2009

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References

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