The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision today on the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) is a complex result that ultimately fails refugees.  The Supreme Court has allowed the appeal in part, sending the equality rights issue at stake back to the Federal Court,  and holding out for the possibility of the agreement being declared unconstitutional. But the Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International Canada, and the Canadian Council of Churches are disappointed that the Supreme Court of Canada failed to decisively rule that the Safe Third Country Agreement violates refugees’ rights, exposing refugee claimants to further harms while awaiting another legal challenge.
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It will likely be months before refugee advocates, including the Canadian Council of Churches, know whether they have prevailed at the Supreme Court. But for now, council general secretary Rev. Peter Noteboom is satisfied that the argument to strike down the Safe Third Country Agreement between the United States and Canada has been heard.
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As Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States goes back before the Supreme Court of Canada Oct. 6, Ottawa has revealed a surge of 23,358 asylum seekers at irregular border crossings in the first eight months of 2022.

That’s 13-per-cent more than all of 2017, when the flood of refugees at Quebec’s Roxham Road crossing from New York captured headlines.
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The Canadian Council of Churches, Amnesty International and the Canadian Council for Refugees are headed to the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of refugee families who want a legal way to apply for asylum at Canada’s land borders. After twice winning in Federal Court only to see those decisions reversed in the Federal Court of Appeal, this is the first time the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments about the constitutional validity of Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) with the United States. Under the agreement, persons seeking refugee status must make their claim in the first country in which they arrive. It has been in place since 2004. A definitive ruling is necessary to clarify a system that forces would-be refugees to cross into Canada illegally at unofficial border crossings like Roxham Road south of Montreal at the Quebec-New York border, said Detroit Mercy University law professor Alex Vernon.

“Most refugees’ first experience of Canada is either to be summarily denied protection and excluded if they go to a (legal) port of entry without an exception to the STCA or to be forced to be ‘law breakers’ and arrested and processed upon entry at Roxham Road,” said Vernon, who runs Detroit Mercy’s immigration law clinic and regularly takes students to Roxham Road for real life experience of practising law on the border. “This is not in keeping with Canada’s international obligations, with constitutional rights of people on Canadian soil, nor with the dignity due to human beings — particularly human beings in distress.” The latest court loss for the refugee advocates at the CCC, AI and CCR came in April. The appeal court’s decision was based “not on substantive grounds, but on the basis of how the arguments were framed,” said a press release from the Canadian Council for Refugees.
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Pope Francis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece met on the Greek island of Lesvos on 16 April to demonstrate their concern for the situation of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers who have come to Europe fleeing from situations of conflict and, in many cases, daily threats to their survival.

The three church leaders urged people not to ignore the humanitarian crisis created by the spread of violence and armed conflict, the persecution and displacement of religious and ethnic minorities, and the uprooting of families from their homes.

“The tragedy of forced migration and displacement affects millions, and is fundamentally a crisis of humanity, calling for a response of solidarity, compassion, generosity and an immediate practical commitment of resources,” reads their message. “From Lesvos, we appeal to the international community to respond with courage in facing this massive humanitarian crisis, and its underlying causes, through diplomatic, political and charitable initiatives and through cooperative efforts, both in the Middle East and in Europe.”

The three leaders said they are one in their desire for peace and in their readiness to promote the resolution of conflicts through dialogue and reconciliation.
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With growing concern about the plight of refugees, a Catholic parish in the City of Brockville, Ont., is coming together with two Anglican parishes to make a difference in the lives of three refugee families.

Agape Brockville is a joint sponsorship effort between St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, St. Paul’s Anglican Church and St. Lawrence Anglican Church. Together, the three parishes are joining forces to prepare new homes for two families from Eritrea and one family from Syria.

“The plight of refugees has just been in the news for a long time,” said Michelle Bushnell, a parishioner at St. Francis Xavier and one of the founding members of Agape Brockville. “So we’ve been (increasingly) concerned about what we can do as Christians. Like in World War II, we go back and we admire so much that generation that sacrificed so much for each other and even in World War I… yet today, we have so many more people suffering.”
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The fate of refugees and the struggles of immigrants in general is on the agenda for Canada’s Catholic bishops, but the bishops are steering clear of a national campaign supported by several church and lay groups which has been critical of the government’s record on refugee rights. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is currently working on a statement concerning refugees, migrants and immigrants to be released at an unspecified date. “In general, the conference does not release preliminary information about the development and eventual timelines of its various projects,” said CCCB spokesman René Laprise in an e-mail. “This is in order to ensure that the bishops and their advisors, both internal and external, have full freedom in drafting, developing and approving any eventual texts. This also avoids raising expectations and risking disappointments about the topics, nature and publication schedules of possible future texts.” In December, the bishops declined to sign a Human Rights Day statement calling on Ottawa to change course on refugee rights. Co-ordinated by the Canadian Council for Refugees, the statement called for fairness, respect and compassion in the treatment of refugees. “Canada can and must do better,” said the Dec. 10 statement. Signatories to the open letter ranged from former solicitor general Warren Allmand to Blue Rodeo guitarist Jim Cuddy. They also included the provincial superiors of both the English and French Canadian provinces of the Jesuits, the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the moderator of the United Church of Canada and the moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Canada.
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