Canada court rules US immigration detention violates asylum seekers’ human rights, invalidates ‘Safe Third Country’ pact

Lawyers for refugees who had been turned away at the Canadian border challenged the pact, saying the US does not qualify as a ‘safe’ country

A federal court judge ruled it was in violation of a section of Canada’s Charter of Rights and gave parliament six months to respond

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Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers apprehend migrants as they enter into Canada at an unofficial border crossing in 2017. Photo: AP

Published: 2:57pm, 23 Jul 2020Updated: 8:00pm, 23 Jul 2020

A Canadian court has ruled that a bilateral pact forcing asylum seekers trying to enter Canada via the American border to first seek sanctuary in the United States is invalid, saying US immigration detention violates their human rights.

Under the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), asylum seekers who arrive at a formal Canada-US border crossing going in either direction are turned back and told to apply for asylum in the first country they arrived in.

Lawyers for refugees who had been turned away at the Canadian border challenged the pact, saying the US does not qualify as a “safe” country under Donald Trump.

Federal court judge Ann Marie McDonald ruled that the agreement was in violation of a section of Canada’s Charter of Rights that says laws or state actions that interfere with life, liberty and security must conform to the principles of fundamental justice.

Asylum seekers cross the border from New York into Canada in this file photo from March. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

McDonald suspended her decision for six months to give parliament a chance to respond. The agreement remains in place during that time.

Nedira Jemal Mustefa, among the refugees turned back and on whose behalf a challenge was launched, described her time in solitary confinement in the US as “a terrifying, isolating and psychologically traumatic experience”, according to the court ruling.