Regulation 247 — Factors — duration of detention
Text of provision
(1) For the purposes of paragraph 244(c), the factors are the following:
(a) the foreign national’s cooperation in providing evidence of their identity or assisting the Department or the Canada Border Services Agency in obtaining evidence of their identity, in providing the date and place of their birth as well as the names of their mother and father, in providing detailed information on the itinerary they followed in travelling to Canada or in completing an application for a travel document;
(b) in the case of a foreign national who makes a claim for refugee protection, the possibility of obtaining identity documents or information without divulging personal information to government officials of their country of nationality or, if there is no country of nationality, their country of former habitual residence;
(c) the foreign national’s destruction of their identity or travel documents, or the use of fraudulent documents by the foreign national in order to mislead the Department or the Canada Border Services Agency, and the circumstances under which the foreign national acted;
(d) the provision of contradictory information by the foreign national with respect to their identity during the processing of an application by the Department or the Canada Border Services Agency; and
(e) the existence of documents that contradict information provided by the foreign national with respect to their identity.
(2) Consideration of the factors set out in paragraph (1)(a) shall not have an adverse impact with respect to minor children referred to in section 249.
Plain English
Regulation 247 requires the Immigration Division to consider: the unexplained length of detention; the reasons for any delays in removal or other proceedings; and whether the delays are attributable to the detained person or to CBSA or IRCC. Extended detention without reasonable explanation weighs toward release.
The Federal Court has held that indefinite detention is not permissible where there is no reasonable prospect of removal in the foreseeable future.
Practical effect
The duration factor under r 247 is critically important in long-term detention cases. The longer a person has been detained without removal, the more pressure there is on the Minister to justify continued detention. Where removal is frustrated by circumstances beyond the detainee's control (country refuses to issue travel documents, no commercial flights, pandemic), the courts have generally been sympathetic to release applications. The Minister must explain at each review what steps have been taken toward removal and why they have not succeeded.