Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter

“The people slogging through the woods in the middle of winter trying to reach Canada are not criminals,” says Wendy Ayotte of Bridges not Borders, a Hemmingford-based organization that assists asylum seekers. “It is not illegal to cross an international border irregularly to seek protection.”

Speaking on behalf of the organization, Ayotte says she is quite disturbed by how people are being increasingly criminalized by the language being used by the RCMP and other local authorities, including those who collaborated with the RCMP to produce a flyer last fall that associates asylum seekers with cross-border crime and suspicious individuals and activities.

“We understand that the RCMP are in some cases saving people’s lives, and we appreciate the work that they do,” says Ayotte, but “Saving lives and criminalizing people does not have to go hand in hand.

Ayotte says there has been a significant uptick in the numbers of visitors to the Bridges not Borders website, which contains information for asylum seekers looking to come to Canada including details on the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which restricts refugee claimants coming from the United States from claiming status in this country.

Bridges not Borders is also a member of the Canada-US Border Network which has created a virtual legal clinic for people seeking safety at the border, called the Canada-US Border Rights Clinic. Ayotte says the clinic has also seen around double the number of people seeking legal advice. Often, the people reaching out are those who do not qualify under SCTA exceptions.

“It’s distressing,” she says, pointing out that those who are intercepted by the RCMP are brought to the Canada Border Services Agency, where their refugee claims are processed. “The high likelihood is they will be returned to the United States, as very few people will qualify under STCA rules – if any of them do,” she explains. Most will be detained in the U.S. and then possibly deported back to a place where they may not be safe.

Article 6 of the agreement does allow Canada and the United States the discretion to “examine any refugee status claim made to that Party where it determines that it is in its public interest to do so,” which means those who do not meet SCTA exceptions are not required by law to be returned to the United States.

Despite this clause, Bridges not Borders argues that the STCA is morally wrong and incompatible with international law. Under the agreement, Canada is required to regularly ensure that the United States meets international human rights standards. Ayotte questions how this can be the case, given the current U.S. administration’s radical position on migrants and immigration.

“Our overall position remains the same – that the STCA must be, at the very least, suspended,” she says.