The Moot Times The University of Calgary Law Student Newspaper | February 2017 Edition
#Research4Refugees: Canadian Law Students Unite to Protect Asylum Seekers Kelly Twa 1L
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n Saturday February 4th, law students from each of Canada’s 22 law schools came together to conduct legal research and draft memos in response to President Trump’s executive order restricting travel from seven Muslim countries, suspending all refugee admission for 120 days, and barring Syrian refugees indefinitely. Under the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement, individuals seeking
asylum must make a claim in the first country in which they arrive. This agreement means that Canada must refuse any applicants who originally arrived in the US, based on the assertion that the US is a “safe third country.” The purpose of the “research-a-thon” was to support the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) in their legal challenge to the legitimacy of this agreement. Previously, in 2007, the CCR brought an application to the Federal Court which argued that pursuant to administrative law principles, the
Charter, and certain unmet standards set by the United Nations Refugee Convention and the Convention Against Torture, the US should not be considered a safe third country. Although the Federal Court ruled in their favor, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the decision. Students and professors united across the country on Saturday to compile new data to support another legal challenge, in recognition that the US has become significantly more unwelcoming towards asylum seekers under the new
presidency. First year students Shannon Faleiro and Cesar Agudelo and second year student Katherine Moore jumped on board with this initiative, which originated at McGill University, only three days before the event was to take place. “I expected that five people might be interested and even with five, I was willing to go ahead with it,” said Faleiro. To his surprise, 30 students registered in the first day and by Saturday over 50 students from all three years were taking part in the research event.
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