Stories From The Hidden World Of Immigration Detention In Canada: A Phenomenological-Narrative Study

This study presents a phenomenological-narrative inquiry of the lived experience of individuals who have been detained in Canada's immigration detention system. The inhumane treatment within immigration detention remains largely hidden in Canadian media and discourse as it is overshadowed by Canada's global reputation as a benevolent immigrant nation-state. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with two former detainees in Toronto, Ontario to extract stories of the lived experiences of detainees on their own accounts. The interviews covered the lived experiences of detainees before, during, and after immigration detention. Findings are presented in themes whereby direct statements from participant interviews are centred to provide authenticity in presenting their stories. The interviews are analyzed alongside academic literature with crimmigration and structuration as guiding theoretical frameworks. I argue that while participants' autonomy was curtailed due to the inhumane treatment and carceral settings they were subjected to, they were able to continue exercising their agency through their efforts to organize their release, their everyday interactions, and how they choose to make sense of their realities.