Advocates urge Canada to suspend refugee pact with U.S. over fears of persecution

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association logo, in Toronto, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

OTTAWA — Several civil society groups are calling on Ottawa to suspend a refugee pact with the United States over concerns for the safety of transgender and gender-diverse people.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and Rainbow Railroad are urging the federal government to immediately pause the Safe Third Country Agreement.

Under the agreement, which took effect in 2004, Canada and the United States recognize each other as safe places for refugees to seek protection.

It means Canada can turn back potential refugees who arrive at the land border because the agreement states they must pursue a claim in the U.S. — their country of first arrival — unless they qualify for an exemption.

The civil society groups say U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent move to suspend his country’s refugee admissions program leaves some LGBTQ+ people stranded in precarious circumstances.

The groups want Canada to issue a moratorium on removals to the U.S. for those who would face an increased risk of detention there, or could be returned to the countries they have fled.

They also call on Canada to create an exemption under the Canada-U.S. agreement for transgender and gender-diverse claimants, and for those fleeing gender-based violence, until the agreement is suspended.

“Canada cannot, in good conscience, continue to turn away refugees at the Canada-U.S. border knowing the heightened risks of deportation they face if returned to the U.S.,” the groups say in a letter to Immigration Minister Marc Miller made public Friday.

“We must not be complicit in endangering the lives of those fleeing persecution.”

Miller’s office said Friday the agreement is carefully designed with safeguards that protect both the border and the needs of those fleeing persecution.

“We continue to carefully monitor developments and it is the continued expectation that the U.S behave according to the terms of the agreement that manages our border,” the minister’s office said.

Trump has also signed an executive order stating that the U.S. recognizes just two genders, male and female.

The non-partisan American Immigration Lawyers Association says the order means detention centres will separate detainees only by male or female — and likely will no longer permit separate housing units for transgender individuals or other semi-protective measures.

“People who identify as transgender or nonbinary will likely experience significant mistreatment, abuse and violence in immigration detention due to their gender status,” the association said last month in an analysis of the executive order.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Council for Refugees and Amnesty International Canada said Canada “must urgently withdraw” from the Safe Third Country Agreement given the “dire situation” facing refugees in the United States.

Trump’s executive actions on migration have amplified existing concerns about the constitutionality of Canada’s participation in the agreement, the groups said.

“President Trump’s extreme anti-immigrant and anti-asylum orders are designed to instil fear and make the U.S dangerously more unsafe for those seeking protection,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary-general of Amnesty Canada’s English-speaking section.

It is in the public’s interest to admit all claimants, including transgender people, whose rights and dignity are not protected in the U.S., the two groups added.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2025.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press