In a ruling that probably won’t get much press, the Canadian courts have determined that the US can’t be considered a safe country for refugee claimants because it does not uphold international conventions that protect refugees nor does it meet its obligations with regards to conventions against torture.
Essentially the Safe Third-Country Agreement which came into effect in 2004 meant that a refugee could only make a claim in the country where they landed (the US or Canada) which of course curtailed the practice of coming into Canada through the US. Since the US has much more regressive laws concerning the granting of refugee status, and since many refugees have to come through the US because of travel patterns, this allowed Canada to send refugee claimants back to the US rather than giving them a hearing. This ruling essentially makes that practice illegal once again.
Interestingly, the Canadian Government is appealing even though official Foreign Affairs documents that surfaced yesterday indicate that the Canadian government is pretty sure that the US is practicing torture (duh!) Obviously torn between it’s official human rights stance and the political cost of seeing refugee numbers rise in Canada, the Government is having a hard time with consistency.
Either way, both the decision and the Foreign Affairs document have angered the US authorities already who are absolutely appalled! That they should be accused of torture. Remarkable, isn’t it? Even with the proofs that have surfaced in the last three years of deplorable human rights actions – the US government still behaves as though it has any moral authority on this issue. It must really be a case of repeating a lie long enough in hopes it will become a truth.
Slightly gratifying that there seem to be a few officials who can see through it.
Tags: canada, politics, refugee, safe third country agreement, torture
I just finished reading Obasan. This strikes a chord. What is to be done?
Well well, it seems that one day before the STCA was to be struck, the Federal government appealed the decision, and the Federal Court of Appeal has granted a stay. Which means that, for god knows how long, the STCA rules will continue to be applied.
I’m not surprised. I mean, the STCA was fulfilling its objectives (namely, making Canada inaccessible for would-be claimants and hence reducing the number of refugee claims made at a land port-of-entry) quite nicely indeed.