Students from 22 Canadian law schools from coast to coast joined a “research-a-thon” Saturday to help with possible legal challenges stemming from U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent travel ban and suspension of the country’s refugee program.
The focus of the research was on what is known as the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and U.S., which mandates that a person seeking refugee status must make the claim in the first country in which they arrive — the understanding being that both countries are considered “safe.”
But in the wake of Trump’s executive order banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, advocates have been calling on Ottawa to immediately suspend the pact, arguing the U.S. is no longer safe for refugees.
The agreement came into effect in 2004 to prevent refugees from making asylum claims in both countries, clogging up the system. It has significantly slashed the number of claims lodged on both sides of the border.
Kim Veller, a second-year student at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School and chair of the local chapter of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, said each school had been given a different question to work on by the Canadian Council for Refugees, which she said is building a proposal to suspend the bilateral agreement.
Veller said most schools would be spending up to 12 hours or more on their research. She noted opposition to the agreement has existed for years, and it has faced legal challenges in the past.
“And now with what is essentially a Muslim ban, refugees are in an especially precarious situation,” she said. “We feel the agreement is no longer reflective of international refugee law, because we don’t feel the U.S. is a safe country.
“When we look at Prime Minister Trudeau saying we welcome refugees, that we’re a humanitarian leader, as law students we want to see him make good on this statement, that our legislation is welcoming and in line with international human rights standards.”
Withdrawing from the agreement would mean all asylum seekers currently in the U.S. could access Canada’s refugee system without having to risk their lives by turning to human smugglers, Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, told the Star last week.
“The U.S. was never safe for all refugees and is now even less safe,” she said.
With files from Nicholas Keung
With files from Nicholas Keung
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