On Wednesday, the federal court of Canada declared an asylum agreement it had with the US as invalid because it accused the US of violating the human rights of refugees.
Since 2004, The Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) of Canda, required people claiming refugee status to seek protection in the first safe country they reach.
However, a judge in the federal court of Canada declared the agreement unconstitutional because of the high chances of the US imprisoning the migrants.
Lawyers of refugees that were asked to return from the Canadian border had challenged the STCA, asserting that the US did not certify as “safe” for asylum seekers.
Federal court judge Ann Marie McDonald in her ruling, said, “It is my conclusion, based upon the evidence, that ineligible STCA claimants are returned to the US by Canadian officials where they are immediately and automatically imprisoned by US authorities,”
“I have concluded that imprisonment and the attendant consequences are inconsistent with the spirit and objective of the STCA and are a violation of the rights guaranteed by section 7 of the [Charter of Rights and Freedoms],” she added.
The federal court ruling embarks a major win for Canadian immigration activists.
US immigration officials have not yet commented on the Canadian ruling.