TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd August, 2020) Canada appealed a ruling that invalidated a deal with the United States requiring refugees to seek asylum in the first country of arrival, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said in a statement on Friday.
On July 22, Federal Court Justice Ann Marie McDonald ruled that the "Safe Third Country Agreement" - intended to manage the flow of refugee claimants between the United States and Canada - is in violation of section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees life, liberty and security of person.
"Today, the Government of Canada filed an appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal as it has assessed that there are factual and legal errors in some of the Federal Court's key findings," Blair said.
The minister said there are important legal principles to be determined in this case and the government must be given clarity as to how to proceed in enforcing asylum laws.
The ruling, which certified the claim that the United States cannot be deemed a "safe third country," was suspended for six months to allow the Canadian Parliament time to respond.
Asylum seekers have exploited a loophole in the border agreement between the United States and Canada, which allows them to enter Canada outside official ports of entry and to make a refugee claim on Canadian soil. The legal gap created a number of irregular entry hot-spots, including the infamous Roxham Road so-called crossing between the US state of New York and Canadian province of Quebec.
According to Canadian government data, 58,255 individuals have irregularly crossed the Canada-United States border between February 2017 and March 2020.
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld earlier this month a similar court decision to block the Trump administration from denying asylum to migrants who traveled through a third country before reaching the southern US border.
