Every year, Canada incarcerates thousands of non-Canadian citizens in immigration detention. This includes refugee claimants seeking protection, permanent residents with long-standing ties to Canada, and people who are lawfully working or studying in the country. In immigration detention, people are deprived of liberty solely on the basis of immigration grounds, not because of criminal wrongdoing or because they pose a threat to the public. Many are separated from the families, and detained for months or years on end, in criminal conditions of confinement.  In Canada, immigration detention is indefinite: detention is not subject to time limits, with the result that people in detention do not know when, or if, they will be released.