Canada Urged to Revisit Safe Third Country Pact as Haitian Asylum Seekers Face Deportation Risk

Canada is under renewed pressure to revisit the Safe Third Country Agreement as Haitian asylum seekers face deportation risk after U.S. protected status ended for many on July 27, 2026, while Ottawa says the pact still applies at the shared border.

The agreement remains in force. So does the dispute.

Asma Faizi, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, said the warning signs are already at the border.

"Every day, people fleeing danger present themselves at the Canadian border expressing grave fears about what will happen to them if they are returned to the U.S. While their fears are very real, the ‘safety valves’ supposedly offered by the Canadian government do not in practice exist and refugees’ pleas for protection are ignored."

The pact has been on the books since 2004. Canada expanded it in March 2023 to cover the entire Canada–U.S. land border, including internal waterways.

Under the rule, claimants must seek protection in the first country they enter. A few people still qualify for exceptions, including those with a close family member in Canada or unaccompanied minors.

IRCC says the factors used to name the U.S. as a safe third country are “continually assessed.” No change has been announced.

People arriving from the U.S. who do not fit an exception are generally found ineligible to make a refugee claim in Canada. The agency returns them to the U.S. as soon as possible.

The trigger came south of the border. In Mullin v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 25, 2026, in a 6-3 decision, that the federal government can end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian nationals. The ruling also barred judicial review of most non-constitutional claims.

About 350,000 Haitian nationals lost their legal protections when TPS expired on July 27, 2026. Some lower-court injunctions have kept the status picture tangled.

The pressure is landing at Canadian ports of entry.

The border pact still pushes most claims back to the U.S.

CBSA data showed Haitians were the largest group of asylum claimants processed at Canadian land border ports of entry in 2026 as of July 26. The agency also said 827 asylum claimants had been removed to the U.S. under the agreement as of July 27, 2026.

Canada says it does not remove people directly to Haiti because of the humanitarian crisis there. But that position does not change the pact’s bar for people who arrive from the U.S.

The result is a narrow path for Haitians who reach Canada from American territory. Most are pushed back. A few are not.

Canada also reported 23,160 enforced removals in 2025, a sharp rise from earlier years. That figure shows how active the removal system already is.

Ottawa tightened asylum rules before the latest surge

The federal government added another layer earlier this year. Bill C-12, the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, became law on March 26, 2026.

It introduced a one-year rule. It also added a 14-day rule. Together, they narrowed the window for some protection claims.

That legislation now sits beside the border pact. So does the court fight.

On June 17, 2026, Amnesty International and the Canadian Council for Refugees filed a new constitutional challenge against the agreement. They argued Canada is breaching the Charter by handing refugees over to the U.S. despite mounting evidence of rights abuses tied to the mass deportation agenda.

Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, sharpened that argument.

"Refugees are being turned away at our borders and handed over to the U.S. system of cruelty and chaos. Canada must put an end to this unconscionable practice without delay."

Marc Miller has not backed a broad policy shift. In June 2026, the immigration minister said there was "no consensus" within the government to offer broad status to undocumented persons.

The department still says it keeps assessing the U.S. designation. For now, the border rules stay the same.