Canada-US asylum seeker agreement upheld by court

Appeals court sides with the Canadian government, which is defending the agreement to turn back asylum seekers.

A Canadian appeals court on Thursday upheld a Canada-US agreement to turn back asylum seekers, overturning a lower court ruling, siding with the federal government and setting up a possible Supreme Court showdown. The Canadian government had launched an appeal defending the agreement and, by association, US immigration detention practices. Canada had argued the pact was necessary to manage its border with the United States. At issue was whether the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), a pact signed in 2002 and under which asylum seekers trying to cross between Canada and the US at formal border crossings are turned around and sent back, violated an asylum seeker’s fundamental rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.