(Ottawa) A parliamentary committee is calling on Canada to amend the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States to include new exemptions that would allow some asylum seekers to apply in Canada after going through UNITED STATES.
This agreement, signed in 2004, says that refugees must seek asylum in the country where they first arrive. They are turned back at the border if they try to cross it to file an application in the second country.
The Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration wants Canada to negotiate exceptions to this rule, particularly with regard to people who have suffered gender-based violence.
“At this time, exceptions are limited to keeping the family together, the best interests of the children, and the public interest,” the committee said in its report, released Tuesday. The only exceptions that have been used so far apply to people facing the death penalty, he added.
Several people who testified before the committee encouraged the government to negotiate greater flexibility for those who do not have access to the same protections in both countries.
In November, immigration attorney Maureen Silcoff said those seeking asylum because of female genital mutilation, domestic violence or fear of sexual assault face more restrictive laws in the United States and have more chance of having their application accepted in Canada.
US President Joe Biden has promised in 2021 to reinstate provisions for survivors of domestic violence, but the committee believes concerns remain about the viability of gender-based claims made on US soil.
It should be noted that the committee submitted a similar recommendation in 2002, when the agreement was still in the process of being created.
The committee also recommends that the two countries reinstate an exemption that allowed people to seek asylum at the Canadian border if they are from a country where Canada does not deport.
Stephen Harper’s Conservative government withdrew this exception in 2009, but several organizations asked the committee to reinstate it.
Several witnesses argued that the United States is not a safe country for asylum seekers and that the entire agreement should be scrapped.
But the report concludes that the government should continue to regard the United States as a safe third country.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser argued in November that suspending the deal risks encouraging thousands of people to take the dangerous journey to emigrate to Canada and encourage smugglers to bring people into the country.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Biden recently extended the scope of the agreement to apply to the 8,900 kilometers of the border, not just official crossings.
Meanwhile, the deal’s future could be decided by the Supreme Court of Canada, which is soon to rule on its constitutionality.