More than 240 Canadian law professors have signed a letter urging Ottawa to immediately suspend a bilateral pact with the U.S. that bans refugees from crossing the border to seek asylum.
The letter was sent to Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday calling for the suspension of the Safe Third Country Agreement in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ban on immigration and refugees from seven Muslim countries.
“Executive orders issued by President Trump demonstrate that the U.S. is not ‘safe’ for refugees. These include a ban on Syrian refugees and a bar on entry of nationals of seven mostly Muslim countries. It is evident that administration of executive orders through border enforcement has been chaotic, inconsistent and arbitrary,” said the 24-page letter.
“Additional statements issued by the president also indicate that the U.S. is not ‘safe,’ including his call for a ban on entry for all Muslims and his suggestion that he is open to considering the use of torture.”
The law professors’ plea echoes the demand by numerous advocacy groups — Amnesty International, Canadian Council for Refugees, Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers — to suspend the treaty for three months until the government can determine if it should be scrapped permanently.
Although Trudeau has publicly said Canada remains open to refugees regardless of religion, Hussen, himself a former refugee from Somalia, has said he has no plan to raise the country’s annual refugee intake or suspend the safe country agreement. He didn’t reply to a request for comment Wednesday.
“This is a key moment in Canadian refugee policy. The prime minister, very much to his credit, has highlighted that Canada remains open to refugees, regardless of their religion, despite contrary policy shifts in the U.S.,” said Osgoode Hall Law School professor Sean Rehaag.
“This letter demonstrates a remarkable level of consensus among Canadian legal academics, both Kaçak Bahis in terms of supporting the PM’s statements about Canada continuing to welcome refugees, and that this statement should be immediately implemented in policy.”
Rehaag spearheaded the letter along with law professors Sharry Aiken from Queen’s University, Audrey Macklin from the University of Toronto, Donald Galloway from the University of Victoria and Efrat Arbel from the University of British Colombia.
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