The government said repealing the agreement would result in an “influx” of asylum seekers at the border, making it more difficult for different levels of government to maintain the existing refugee system, including the provision of housing and other social services. McDonald suspended its decision for six months to allow Parliament to respond. The agreement will remain in force during this period. If the government wins its appeal, which will likely be negotiated in late February or early March, the border deal will almost certainly remain intact. If the government loses its appeal, the deal will likely be permanently dismissed unless the government decides to challenge the loss in the Supreme Court. A safe third country is a state in which a person passing through that country could have applied for refugee protection. In Canada, subsection 102(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act sets out the criteria for designating a country as a safe third country. 4 Exceptions allowing applications to be processed in the third country: the agreement was signed on 5 December 2002 in Washington, D.C. by Bertin Côté (Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Canada) and Arthur E. Dewey (Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, US Department of State for Foreign Affairs). Federal Judge Ann Marie McDonald ruled that the agreement violated a section of the Canadian Charter of Rights that states that laws or acts of state that affect liberty and security must respect the principles of fundamental justice. Concerns were expressed about the lack of security legislation to protect refugees in the United States. These security concerns and arguments give refugees legitimate reasons to travel to Canada for a better life.
On December 29, 2005, a group of refugee and human rights organizations (in both Canada and the United States) launched a legal challenge to the United States` claim as the third safe country for refugees seeking asylum. This legal challenge was supported by eminent personalities such as Justice Michael Phelan of the Federal Court of Canada on November 29, 2007, and many others. Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, in force since December 2004, Canada and the United States declare that the other country is safe for refugees and close the door to most refugees at the U.S.-Canada border. The agreement, which allows any country to reject asylum seekers who attempt to file refugee claims at official crossing points, was declared unconstitutional in July by the Federal Court. But the increase in refugee applications occurred while the agreement on safe third countries was in force. . . .