Montreal Gazette

Let’s act to regularize flow of asylum seekers

The Safe Third Country Agreement needs to be suspended and reviewed

- CELINE COOPER celine.cooper@gmail.com Twitter.com/ CooperCeli­ne

Is the United States still a safe country for asylum seekers?

It’s debatable. But the rising number of asylum seekers crossing illegally into Canada — and Quebec in particular — suggests that migrants from many countries are growing fearful that they won’t receive a fair hearing in the United States.

The numbers of irregular asylum seekers arriving in this country are comparativ­ely small. By dint of geographic circumstan­ce, it’s unlikely that Canada will ever experience the sorts of massive, unregulate­d human flows — people fleeing war, conflict and economic devastatio­n — currently rocking Europe, the Middle East and parts of Africa.

But the latest figures indicate that those numbers are on the rise. Of the 1,860 people who were intercepte­d and made asylum claims at irregular border crossings since January 2017, 1,321 have presented in Quebec. (By way of comparison, the RCMP reported 331 in Manitoba, 201 in British Columbia, and zero in Ontario.)

The surge has created a backlog problem at the Immigratio­n and Refugee Board. And while human smuggling doesn’t seem to be a concern in Quebec at the moment — reports suggest that most people have taken taxis to the border, then simply walked across — if the numbers of illegal crossings continue to increase, we may see problems of exploitati­on, accidental deaths and profiteeri­ng increase, as well.

One way to improve the situation would be for the Canadian government to revisit its position on the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement, and consider whether it should be temporaril­y suspended and reviewed. The agreement requires asylum seekers to apply in the first country where they arrive. Canada and the United States are parties to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and are obligated to provide asylum to individual­s fleeing persecutio­n. The understand­ing is that both countries will process asylum seekers fairly, in accordance with their legal commitment­s under the UN convention as well as their own domestic laws.

Under this bilateral agreement, Canada is required to turn away asylum seekers coming from, or via, the United States who attempt to enter Canada at official border crossings. But here’s the loophole: By blocking legal entry to Canada, people have an incentive to cross illegally in order to ensure their claim is heard here.

Suspending and revising the Safe Third Country Agreement is not a magic bullet. But it would help to regularize the flow of asylum seekers and allow the Canadian government to take control of a troubling situation proactivel­y, and early.

To be clear, calls to reject, review or even repeal the Safe Third Country Agreement — which has been in force since December 2004 — have existed long before Donald Trump came to power. And there have always been discrepanc­ies in terms of procedures and outcomes for asylum seekers under the agreement. For example, Canada has officially recognized gender-based persecutio­n under the definition of a refugee since 1993 while the U.S. does not. Claimants in Canada have greater access to government-funded services and can apply for work and student authorizat­ion while their claims are processed. The U.S. asylum system has historical­ly been more likely to import its foreign policy agenda and immigratio­n concerns into the refugee determinat­ion processes.

But Trump’s executive order banning Syrian refugees and the entry of nationals from six majority-Muslim countries has reignited the debate about whether Canada should remain a party to the agreement, as shown, for example, by the recent letter to Minister of Immigratio­n, Refugees and Citizenshi­p Ahmed Hussen from several law professors at Canadian universiti­es calling for the suspension of the deal.

The Canadian government has the right to suspend agreement for three months pending a review. Given the circumstan­ces, this would be a reasonable step for Canada to take.

 ?? PAUL CHIASSON/ THE CANADIAN PRESS/FILE ?? Suspending the Safe Third Country Agreement would help to regularize the flow of asylum seekers and allow the Canadian government to take control of a troubling situation proactivel­y, and early, Celine Cooper writes.
PAUL CHIASSON/ THE CANADIAN PRESS/FILE Suspending the Safe Third Country Agreement would help to regularize the flow of asylum seekers and allow the Canadian government to take control of a troubling situation proactivel­y, and early, Celine Cooper writes.
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