Canadian judge overturned the Safe Third Country Agreement
On July 22, 2020, Judge Ann Marie McDonald said Canada and the United States’ Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) is in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and asked the Canadian government to respond within six months. Originally under this agreement, Canada and the United States recognized each other as a safe place for refugees to seek protection. This means that refugees must seek asylum in the first country they arrive in. If refugees try to cross the border into Canada after arriving in the United States, the Canadian government can send these refugees back to the United States. In this regard, Canadian refugee rights activists have been actively opposing this agreement, saying that the United States is not always a safe country for those who are fleeing persecution. The appeal was filed by the Canadian Council of Refugees, Amnesty International, the Canadian Council of Churches and some individual litigants. They believe that the Canadian government’s deportation of unqualified refugees back to the United States puts refugees at risk of detention and eventually being deported back to more dangerous countries.
#STCA, #IRCC, #refugees