Our Team in the Media

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 8-0 that a regulatory provision designating the United States as a “safe third country” to which most asylum seekers arriving at the Canada-U.S. border can safely be returned to make their refugee claims is not ultra vires nor an infringement of their Charter s. 7 rights to liberty and security of the person.However, the top ...

On Parliament Hill, three human rights organizations respond to the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on the constitutionality of the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement. The top court has ruled that the agreement recognizing the two countries as safe places for asylum seekers is constitutional.Taking part in the news conference are representatives from groups that, alongside eight plaintiffs, launched the ...

Warda Shazadi Meighen is an immigration partner at Landings LLP and an adjunct professor of refugee law at the University of Toronto. Until 2004, when the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement was signed, asylum seekers could enter Canada in an orderly manner by presenting themselves at an official port of entry at the Canada-US border. Once the agreement came into effect, however, ...

Immigration detention on the grounds of identity is not novel in international law – many states reserve the right to detain foreign nationals where their identity is unknown. Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) permits Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to detain foreign nationals where the minister is not satisfied as to the person’s identity. Canadian jurisprudence has continually ...