CBSA should staff its own detention centre: B.C. coroner's inquest (updated with video)

BURNABY - A coroners jury looking into the death of Mexican hotel maid Lucia Vega Jimenez is recommending that Canada Border Services Agency staff not contracted security guards monitor immigration detainees.

Other recommendations include civilian oversight of critical incidents in CBSA custody and a dedicated, above-ground holding centre for detainees that features natural light, ventilation and outside access.

Those characteristics are a far cry from the conditions present at the airports current holding centre, which is staffed by Genesis Security.

Jurors weighed in with the verdict late Tuesday, after hearing several days of testimony at the inquest into the death. Jimenez hanged herself in a shower stall at the Vancouver airports immigration holding centre on Dec. 20, 2013 and later died in hospital.

Jurors want a dedicated CBSA holding centre for detainees that is staffed by its own employees, located within a 30-minute drive of the airport, and with its own on-site courtroom for immigration hearings.

Jurors recommended that at a minimum, lawyers must have access to the airports holding centre. It must be fitted with call buttons for help, self-harm proofed, and equipped with telephones.

While the holding centre is staffed by subcontractors, jurors recommend that the CBSA access the video monitoring system at random times to ensure the appropriate number of staff are on site and that they are meeting their contractual requirements.

Jurors also recommended the federal government appoint an independent ombudsperson to mediate related concerns or complaints, and create a civilian organization to investigate critical incidents in CBSA custody.

Translators must also be available for detainees who can't understand English, the jury recommended.

"I'm blown away, basically,'' said Rocco Trigueros of the group Mexicans in Vancouver. "I'm very happy to read the recommendations because they are great, they are profound, they are responsible, and I think we were lucky to have a great jury because they were sensitive.''

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CBSA should staff its own detention centre: B.C. coroner's inquest (updated with video)