A former hotel in the west end of Toronto is being turned into a detention centre for foreigners, after the federal government awarded a $20-million, five-year contract for the project.

The centre is scheduled to open early in the new year, replacing a makeshift facility at the Celebrity Inn near Pearson Airport that refugee advocates had criticized as overcrowded and inhumane.

The new centre will include an outdoor recreation area and basketball court, according to a spokesperson for Corbel Management, which won the contract to convert the former inn.

Immigration Canada detained more than 11,000 foreigners this year.

Immigration Canada detained 20 per cent more foreigners in 2003, for a total of more than 11,000. Many of those were people arriving through Toronto's international airport.

Immigration officials detain anyone they consider suspicious, and anyone who refuses to provide identity documents.

Janet Dench, of the Canadian Council for Refugees, welcomes the better accommodations for those detained. But she is disturbed by the sharp jump in the number of people being held.

"Depriving someone of their liberties is a very serious matter, but in the case of immigrants and refugees, it's done very lightly," she said.