CLASS ACTIONS

`

Immigrant Detainee Class Action

We are pleased to announce that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has approved the Settlement Agreement in this action. A copy of the Court’s reasons for approving the Settlement can be viewed here. The approved Settlement Agreement can be viewed here.

 

The Claims Process is now open. Class Members can now submit Claim Forms online at https://Portal.OntJailStaffLockdowns.ca, or by downloading a PDF copy from https://ONTJailStaffLockdowns.ca and sending it to the Administrator:

 

By email:            Claims@ONTJailStaffLockdowns.ca

By mail:               Ontario Corrections Staffing-Related Lockdowns Class Actions Administrator

c/o Deloitte LLP

PO Box 7545 STN ADELAIDE

Toronto, ON  M5C 0C4

 

The deadline to submit a Claim is December 1, 2026.

 

There are two Claim Forms for this Settlement.

 

Ontario Corrections Staffing-Related Lockdowns Class Actions Settlement Claim Form:

 

Who: Inmates and immigration detainees.

What: Experienced 16 or more staffing-related lockdowns.

When: Incarcerated between May 30, 2009, and November 27, 2017.

Ontario Corrections Staffing-Related Lockdowns Class Actions Settlement Statute-Barred Claim Form:

 

Who: Inmates and immigration detainees who were legally unable to start a lawsuit due to a mental health or other health condition.

What: Experienced 16 or more staffing-related lockdowns.

When: Incarcerated between May 30, 2009, and August 14, 2014 (for inmates) or August 10, 2014 (for immigration detainees).

 

Class Members who experienced staffing-related lockdowns after May 30, 2009 but before August 15, 2014 for current or former inmates, or August 11, 2014 for current or former immigration detainees, may still be eligible for compensation if they can show that they were legally incapable of starting a lawsuit during that time. In this case, Class Members are required to submit both the Statute-Barred Claim Form and the regular Claim Form.

 

More details about who may be eligible for compensation and how to submit a Claim are available on the Administrator’s website https://ONTJailStaffLockdowns.ca, and summarized in the short-form and long-form Notice of Settlement Approval.

 

If you need help making a Claim, please call the Administrator’s Contact Centre at 1-844-742-0825 (Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST, excluding holidays) or email info@ONTJailStaffLockdowns.ca. Please note that the Contact Centre will be closed from December 23, 2025 to January 5, 2026. Your call or email will be returned after that date.

Koskie Minsky LLP and Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP have commenced a class action against the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario alleging human rights violations relating to the treatment of immigrant detainees in Ontario’s prisons.

 

The statement of claim issued on August 11, 2016 alleges, among other things, that the Canada Border Services Agency and the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services have been negligent and have breached the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in incarcerating immigrant detainees in Ontario’s correctional facilities. The action was certified by the Superior Court of Justice on November 27, 2017.

 

The class includes all persons detained under Division 6 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27 at Ontario correctional institutions as defined in the Ministry of Correctional Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.22 (the “Correctional Institutions”) between May 30, 2009 and November 27, 2017 (solely with respect to their detention under Division 6 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act), except the “Excluded Persons”. “Excluded Persons” are all persons who were detained at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, the Ontario Correctional Institute and the St. Lawrence Valley Correctional and Treatment Centre (solely with respect to their detention under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act at those Correctional Institutions).

 

Godday Dadzie, an Ivory Coast national formerly incarcerated in the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario, and Al Zeekehmens, a Liberian national formerly incarcerated in Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, Ontario are the representative plaintiffs.

 

For further information:

 

Toll-Free Telephone: 1-855-525-3403

Email: idclassaction@hhllp.ca

Co-counsel: Immigrant Detainee Class Action – Koskie Minsky LLP

Latest Developments

October 22, 2025

 

The Settlement Agreement was approved by the court on October 22, 2025. We anticipate that Justice Glustein’s orders will become final on November 24, 2025. The Claims Period has not yet begun. Once the Claims Period begins, we will update this webpage. If you provided your email or mailing address to the Administrator, you will receive a notification when the Claims Process is launched. From the date that Notice is provided, Class Members will have 12 months to submit a claim.

 

October 20, 2025

 

The court hearing for approval of the Settlement Agreement will take place on October 22, 2025. The hearing will be held in-person and virtually by Zoom. To attend by Zoom, please use the following link:

https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/63500791483?pwd=CZUES2I4CUtbFul98c75p9jTr2XFLR.1#success.

 

October 8, 2025

 

On October 8, 2025, Class Counsel amended the Exceptional Circumstances Protocol to provide for a further distribution of any undistributed amounts in the Exceptional Circumstances Fund, including any uncashed or undeposited funds, to Class Members affected by the limitation periods, who were incarcerated at Correctional Institutions where Staffing-Related Lockdowns occurred on 100 or more days but who are credited with 100 or fewer SRLs as calculated under the Compensation Protocol. These changes will only reduce the amount of the Settlement Fund that is distributed cy-près to charitable organizations and will not decrease the award that any individual Class Member receives. These amendments are posted here.

 

September 30, 2025

 

Canada Post’s mail delivery services are currently being disrupted by a labour strike. Until the end of the disruption, please send any written inquiry by email rather than postal mail. In addition, any inquiry or objection sent to the Notice Administrator (OntJailStaffLockdowns.ca) should be sent by email rather than postal mail. If you submitted a written inquiry by postal mail in the last week, please re-send your inquiry by email.

Documents