Vancouver police draft guidelines for interacting with undocumented migrants

VANCOUVER – Vancouver police have released proposed guidelines for officers on interacting with undocumented immigrants, in an effort to ensure migrants can access police services without fear of deportation.

The guidelines direct officers not to ask about the immigration status of a witness, complainant or victim, and not to enlist the assistance of Canada Border Services Agency on these investigations unless there is a legitimate reason to do so.

The police department says it has been in discussions with the City of Vancouver about the issue since 2014 and council requested the police board consider adopting policy in 2016 after the city passed an access without fear policy.

The department has consulted other stakeholders on the policy over the past two years and the police board will review the guidelines on Thursday.

It says even in the absence of official guidelines, the enforcement of immigration offences has not been a priority, with immigration arrests accounting for 0.01 per cent of all calls for a police response from 2015 to 2017.

But the advocacy group Sanctuary Health says the guidelines pay lip service to the city’s policy without any operational change, noting that officers will still be able to contact the border services agency when they feel it’s appropriate.

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