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e-7120 (Citizenship and immigration)

E-petition
Initiated by Catherine Smith from Vancouver, British Columbia

Original language of petition: English

Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled

Whereas:
  • Canada is a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol;
  • Canada has a Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States. Under that agreement, it returns to the United States anyone who has requested asylum in the United States;
  • Currently, refugee claimants in the United States, including those who entered the country regularly, are being arrested, detained and deported without due process of law;
  • Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act offers safe haven to persons with a well-founded fear of persecution. The IRPA also requires the continual review of all countries designated as safe third countries to ensure that the conditions that led to that designation continue to be met; and
  • In his recent speech to the World Economic Forum, Prime Minister Carney called for creating "agreements that function as described". However, by implementing the Safe Third Country Agreement, Canada is violating the UN Refugee Convention and its own Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
We, the undersigned, residents and citizens of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to instruct the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to immediately:
1. Report to the Governor in Council that the United States no longer meets the requirements for designation as a safe third country;
2. Notify the United States in writing that Canada intends to terminate the Safe Third Country Agreement in accord with Article 10 of the agreement; and
3. Instruct the Canada Border Services Agency to change its policy so that it no longer enforces the Safe Third Country Agreement, and to stop returning anyone making a refugee claim in Canada to the United States under that agreement.
Open for signature
March 10, 2026, at 4:40 p.m. (EDT)
Closed for signature
June 8, 2026, at 4:40 p.m. (EDT)
Presented to the House of Commons
Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East)
June 18, 2026 (Petition No. 451-01135)
Photo - Jenny Kwan
Vancouver East
New Democratic Party Caucus
British Columbia