The Canadian Sanctuary Network, Bridges Not Borders, and the Canadian Council for Refugees are calling on civil society partners to join us in demanding an end to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between Canada and the United States.
As we celebrate World Refugee Day on June 20th, we are asking you to join us and sign on to our letter calling on the Canadian government to withdraw from the STCA.
We invite organizations and individuals on both sides of the border to sign the letter below.
For more on the STCA and why you should support our efforts to end it, please check out the following resources:
- CCR Backgrounder on the Safe Third Country Agreement
- CCR Statement on the Expansion of the Third Country Agreement
- CCR Public Statement on Roxham Road
- CCR's most recent call to end the STCA (February 2025)
For any questions, you can reach us at info@ccrweb.ca
Open Letter on the STCA
The Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) is a treaty that allows Canada to turn away refugee claimants (also called asylum seekers) at the land border, sending them back to the United States. This agreement is based on the premise that the U.S. is a safe place for refugees, which has proven to be false. Canada must stand up for refugee rights and withdraw from the STCA.
Conditions for refugees in the U.S. have deteriorated drastically since January 2025. Refugee protection has effectively ceased to exist. After the current administration cancelled the CBP One App, there is no longer a mechanism to make a refugee claim for most people. New procedures expand detention and accelerate deportation, with documented cases of people being deported without any justification at all. Even those who have a legal right to stay in the U.S. are under threat.
These measures are an affront to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, which binds signatories to offer protection to people who face persecution. The Convention was written and signed in the aftermath of the Holocaust, in recognition of the collective failure to protect groups who were persecuted by Nazi Germany. Both the United States and Canada signed on to the Convention and Protocol and passed domestic laws to safeguard refugee rights.
But domestic law and the authority of the courts have been repeatedly undermined by the Trump administration. For instance, individuals were scooped up, deported to El Salvador, and held in maximum security prisons, where they experience ongoing human rights violations. These deportations happened in defiance of a U.S. court order. Although this detention is paid for by the U.S. government, U.S. officials are arguing that these individuals are under jurisdiction of a foreign country and that American court rulings do not apply. With the rule of law under threat, the U.S. can no longer be considered a reliable partner, including in matters to do with refugees.
Canada’s continued participation in the STCA, as well as the measures proposed in Bill C-2 that would make it even more difficult for refugee claimants to get due process at a refugee hearing in Canada, mean that Canada is effectively endorsing U.S. policies to end refugee protection and deport people to places where they are at risk of persecution, torture, and death.
Moral and legal opposition to Canada’s participation in the STCA is not new. A wide range of voices—faith groups, human rights defenders, and senior leaders across political parties—have called for Canada to cease participating in the STCA. The Federal Court of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada both ruled that refugees sent back to the US might be at risk of rights breaches that violate Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, although the Supreme Court has so far declined to strike down the STCA.
But as refugees become pawns in a dangerous political game, there has never been a more critical time to be a leader in safeguarding the rights of refugees.
We propose a system that is more orderly and humane. Absurdly, the STCA weakens border security by encouraging the creation of smuggling networks and incentivizing informal border crossing. Efforts to surveil the 9,000 km border intrude upon the privacy and daily lives of Canadians, two thirds of whom live within 100 km of the US border. Despite being resource intensive, they are ultimately ineffective.
Returning to the system in place before the STCA was enacted, people who fear persecution can make a refugee claim at an official land port of entry. The Canadian government will know who enters Canada and can evaluate the merits of their refugee claims.
Resources can be diverted from wasteful efforts such as helicopter patrols to enact the Asylum With Dignity plan, which will ensure appropriate support, as well as timely decisions on refugee claims. Refugees would have the opportunity to rebuild their lives and contribute to the economic and social fabric of Canada.
It is time to move beyond political theatre and make a border policy that responds to the realities of the day and aligns with Canadian values of fairness and respect for human rights. It is time to withdraw from the STCA.
We, the undersigned individuals and organizations based in Canada, call on the Canadian government to withdraw Bill C-2 and from the STCA.
- List of Canada-based organizations and individuals
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- The Canadian Sanctuary Network
- Bridges Not Borders
- Canadian Council for Refugees
- Angela Rose & Oak House
- Patricia Wood
- Frances Ravensbergen
- Rani Cruz
- Julie Young
- Welcome Collective
- Matthew House Refugee Welcome Centre of Windsor
- Louis-Philippe Jannard
- Mauricio Trujillo
- East Kootenay Friends of Refugees
- Brydon Gombay
- Comité de solidarité internationale de l'ALGI
- Rainbow Railroad
- Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW)
- Pam Hillis
- Jesuit Refugee Service Canada
- Canadian Center For Victims Of Torture
- Janna Frith
- Alida Oegema-Thomas
- Mylène Bigaouette
- Corina Barbul
- Adan Hassan Sallow
- Fédération des femmes du Québec
- Social Impact Consulting
- Ethan Shi
- CRÉDIL
- Sylvain Thibault
- Jenna Cura
- Marck Cura
- Halifax Refugee Clinic
- Amanda Dale
- Joanne Cottrill
- Rebecca Butler
- Erika Frey
- Erin Sloan
- Deborah Sloan
- Josiane Ménard
- Cassidy M. Ascione
- Alison Witt
- Caring for Social Justice Collective
- Reyaz Aly
- Canada-US Border Rights Clinic
- AGIR Montreal
- Didier Kabongo
- Glenn Hodgins
- Alice Craft
- Nadia Umadat
- Cooper Institute
We, the undersigned individuals and organizations based in the US, validate the concerns documented in the letter that make the US unsafe for asylum seekers and other refugees.
- List of US-based organizations and individuals
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- Capital District Border Watch
- Alex Vernon
- Saratoga Immigration Coalition
- Refugees International
- Élaine Simon
- Victor Anderson
- Plattsburgh Cares