Canada

OTTAWA, November 20, 2019 / Human rights advocates are denouncing the Canadian government’s financial support for a disastrous hydroelectric project in Colombia, as a leader from one of the affected communities arrives in Ottawa to meet today with officials at Export Development Canada (EDC) and Global Affairs Canada.

Amnesty International Canada and Above Ground are accompanying Isabel Zuleta, a spokesperson for the coalition Movimiento Ríos Vivos, in her meetings with officials.

EDC’s president and CEO recently acknowledged that the Hidroituango project, which was financed in part by EDC, led to “an environmental, economic and human catastrophe” after the dam nearly collapsed in 2018, forcing the evacuation of 25,000 people. Another financier, the Inter-American Development Bank, announced last month an investigation into its support for the dam.

OTTAWA – On November 20, Universal Children’s Day, Ottawa-based Inuk artist Sabrina Taqtu Montague will unveil a walleye fish banner she has painted in solidarity with Indigenous Anishinaabe youth impacted by the mercury crisis in Grassy Narrows First Nation.

For 50 years, members of the First Nation in northwestern Ontario, also known as Asubpeeschoseewagong, have been facing mercury poisoning. A pulp mill dumped roughly 10 tonnes of mercury into the English-Wabigoon River system from 1962 until 1970, contaminating the community’s vital waterways and walleye fish. Due to government inaction, young people living in Grassy Narrows continue to face devastating health and social impacts, including the loss of the community’s jobs and the erosion of their cultural traditions.

After an inspiring, challenging and eventful week at the Federal Court in Toronto, it is worth taking a moment for some final reflections on the court challenge to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) which took place from November 4-8, 2019. 

Jaya Bordeleau-Cass and André Capretti are the 2019-2020 Public Interest Articling Fellows at Amnesty International Canada. They will be posting updates about the Safe Third Country Agreement hearing throughout the week.

Shame. Frustration. Rage. Disappointment.  

Court hearings can be dry, but when we listen to the facts and stories presented over the past two days in the challenge to the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), it is hard not to have an emotional reaction.

On the second day of the hearings in Toronto, counsel for the applicants – Amnesty International, the Canadian Council for Refugees, the Canadian Council of Churches and individual refugee claimants – continued to present their legal arguments and reviewed how the STCA violates equality rights under section 15 of the Canadian Charter, and the rights to liberty and security of the person under section 7.

WINNIPEG – Indigenous youth and mercury survivors from Grassy Narrows First Nation will be the focus of Amnesty International’s largest worldwide letter-writing campaign this year, the human rights organization announced today.

The annual Write for Rights event, which takes place around International Human Rights Day Dec. 10, is highlighting 10 cases of young people around the world who are experiencing human rights abuses, including the Indigenous Anishinaabe youth from the northwestern Ontario First Nation.

The Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) encourages refugee claimants to cross the border unsafely and irregularly, putting lives at risk. With the arrival of winter, it’s important to take action now.

The STCA requires that refugee claimants who arrive in Canada or the US request protection in the first country in which they arrive. However, it does not bar refugee claimants from seeking protection in Canada if they do not enter Canada at an official border crossing. 

In response to the harsh, xenophobic immigration polices of President Donald Trump’s administration, many refugee claimants have turned to Canada for protection. Because they would be sent back to the United States if they make a claim for refugee protection at an official border crossing, many have resorted to crossing the border between official border posts. During the winter months, this is particularly dangerous: people have had amputations due to frostbite, and at least one woman believed to have been attempting to cross the border has died.

29 October 2019

From November 4th to 8th the Federal Court of Canada will hear a challenge to the designation of the U.S. as a safe third country for refugees. The court will hear that sending refugee claimants back to the US violates Canadian law, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Canada’s binding international human rights obligations.

The Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR), Amnesty International (AI) and The Canadian Council of Churches (CCC), alongside an individual litigant and her children, initiated the legal challenge in July 2017. The hearings are taking place at the Federal Court of Canada in Toronto, at 180 Queen Street West.