The Supreme Court of Canada upholds amendments to third country safe agreements

Canada’s changes requiring the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) to prevent migrants from the United States from entering at illegal border crossings, including Quebec’s Roxham Road crossing, are legal, the top court has said.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the case Canadian Council for Refugees v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2023 SCC 17 that migrants attempting to illegally enter Canada from the United States may be denied entry even if they claimed to be in danger ran in the United States.

A loophole that allowed migrants to illegally cross into Canada from the United States was closed earlier this year and was being challenged in court.

But Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Kasirer, who wrote the ruling, disagreed with claims that the changes were unconstitutional and endangered individual lives.

“A degree of difference between the legal regimes applicable in the two countries can be tolerated, as long as the US system is not fundamentally unfair,” he said.

“In my view, the record does not support the conclusion that the US detention regime is fundamentally unfair.”

Read more Canada immigration news

Canada to stop illegal border crossings with US safe third country agreement
Federal Court Rules in Ottawa’s Favor of Safe Agreement with Third Countries
Safe Third Country Agreement: Federal Court of Appeals stays decision to strike it down

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser welcomes the Supreme Court’s ruling and says Canada will continue to work hard on refugee claims to provide a safe haven for people from around the world.

“The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the constitutional validity of the designation of the United States as a safe third country in that it complies with the principles of fundamental justice under Section 7 of the Charter,” Fraser said.

“The Safe Third Country Agreement regime remains in effect. We will respond to the Section 15 charter issues as the federal court process gets under way.

Under the STCA, Canada and the United States share a responsibility to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.

“We remain actively involved in migration, asylum and refugee issues at a time when global displacement is reaching record levels,” said Fraser.

“We will continue to work with like-minded partners globally to promote safe and regular routes and to support other countries in establishing their domestic frameworks to provide protection for refugees and asylum seekers.”

Migrant rights protesters marched from Montreal to Roxham Road Crossing over the weekend

In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on the STCA, dozens of activists marched from Montreal to Roxham Road over the weekend to protest for migrants’ rights, claiming that the changes to the agreement infringed on the right to asylum.

“We think it sabotages the right to asylum as recognized by international law,” Delphine Mass, one of the protesters, reportedly said. CTV news.

Those demonstrators claim that the United States is not a safe country for asylum seekers and that they are under political pressure.

“We are concerned that closing the border completely will force people who have a real reason to enter Canada through unsafe routes,” Jill Hanley, another protester, reportedly told the news outlet.

Canada is required to welcome an additional 15,000 people under a deal between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Joe Biden refugees from South and Central America who will be fleeing persecution and violence in the coming year.

Watch video

In the eight years ending January 2023, Canada welcomed 230,370 refugees, including 47,890 last year alone, data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) shows.

Over the past eight years, Canada’s annual refugee immigration has more than doubled, rising 145.6 percent from 19,495 in 2015.

All migrants attempting to enter Canada illegally must now be returned to the United States. Once there, they can legally apply for asylum in Canada.

Inked in 2004, the STCA initially only applied to official border crossings and allowed migrants crossing at unofficial border crossings, such as Roxham Road, to remain in Canada pending hearings or decisions on their case.

Last year, 39,000 migrants reportedly entered Canada illegally through Roxham Road.

However, the blocking of migrants’ entry into Canada on Roxham Road has been criticized by at least one human rights group.

Amnesty International lawyer Julia Sande has called the move to expand the provisions of the STCA unreasonable.

“It will only drive people to more remote areas and more dangerous crossings,” Sande is said to have said.