Canada’s Federal Court put the U.S. asylum system on trial this week. Here’s what it heard

Detailed summary

Litigants suing Ottawa argue the Safe Third Country Agreement disproportionately harms women, children, LGBTQ refugees.

America’s asylum system and treatment of refugees were on trial in a Canadian court this week.

The Federal Court heard the claim by lawyers for litigants suing Ottawa that the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement disproportionately harms women fleeing gender-based persecution, children and LGBTQ refugee claimants by denying them access to protection and returning them to the U.S., thus subjecting them to the “deficient” U.S. asylum and detention systems. They argue it’s a breach of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The risks faced by these groups, they allege, have intensified since January 2025 with the mass detention and deportation effort under “Trump 2.0.”

“The system is stacked against certain groups more than others,” lawyer Kate Webster told the court. She represents the three organizations leading the lawsuit — the Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International and the Canadian Council of Churches.

The court has been asked to declare the designation of the U.S. as a safe third country be “invalid and of no force or effect.” A ruling in the advocate’s favour would effectively reopen Canada’s land border to asylum seekers crossing from the U.S., allowing them to make a claim and enter Canada.

The border pact, effective since 2004, requires refugee claimants to seek protection in the first country they arrive in — either Canada or the United States. Those who cross into the other country are turned back unless they meet one of a few narrow exemptions, such as having an immediate family member there or being an unaccompanied minor.

The Safe Third Country Agreement has a discriminatory impact on some groups, opponents argue.

The Safe Third Country Agreement has a discriminatory impact on some groups, opponents argue.

Although the rules are meant to apply to everyone equally, the lawsuit claims that some groups face discriminatory impacts based on their gender, age and sexual orientation, when compared to other returnees to the U.S.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Toronto Star. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.