The Supreme Court of Canada announced Thursday they would hear the appeal of a lower court ruling that re-implemented Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) with the United States. That appellate court ruling followed a federal judge’s 2020 decision that struck the agreement down for violating the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
The STCA was signed between the US and Canadian governments in 2002. It governs the admission of refugees into Canada via land borders with the US and requires that refugee applicants seek asylum in the “first safe country” that they arrive in. The STCA further designates the US as a “first safe country,”and thus finds most individuals entering Canada at a land border to be ineligible to make a refugee claim, since such an entry must necessarily first come through the US. Aside from some limited exceptions, those individuals are blocked from entering Canada and sent back to the US for refugee processing.
The STCA was ruled unconstitutional in 2020, when a federal court found that the designation of the US as a “safe third country” violated both Canadian immigration law and section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is part of the Canadian constitution, and section 7 guarantees every person the right to life, liberty and security of the person, and cannot be deprived of such rights except through due process.
The 2020 court found that the condition of the US refugee system meant that automatic returns to the US often resulted in refugee applicants being deprived of food, medical care, and human dignity without due process, which violates section 7. However, this decision was overturned by the Federal Court of Appeal in April 2021, which held that the plaintiffs’ claims were insufficiently supported to meet the high standards necessary for Canadian constitutional litigation.
The Supreme Court’s hearing has not yet been scheduled. As of today, the STCA remains in place for asylum seekers at the Canadian land border.
