Refugee Rights Day in Canada

April 4, 1985 was the day the Supreme Court of Canada made a very important decision for refugee rights, called the Singh decision. The Court ruled that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the right of refugee claimants in Canada to life, liberty and security of the person.

The anniversary of this ruling is an ideal time to celebrate the advances made in the protection of refugee rights in Canada as a result of the Singh decision, and to raise awareness regarding the threats to those rights.

Canada's refugee protection system has some features of which Canadians can be proud:

Canada's refugee determination system is admired internationally because decisions are made by an independent, specialized tribunal (the Immigration and Refugee Board), based on excellent documentation and research.

Canada has implemented groundbreaking gender protection for refugees.

Refugee claimants have access to basic entitlements to allow them to live in dignity (e.g. work permits, emergency health care coverage, access to education), and accepted refugees can apply for permanent residence.But recent developments reflect a growing hostility toward refugee claimants and a disregard for the basic rights of refugees:

Canada works to stop refugee claimants from getting to Canada. The recently implemented Safe Third Country agreement is the latest manifestation of this, largely closing the US-Canada border.

There is no appeal based on merits of a negative refugee decision. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), adopted by Parliament in 2001, provided a Refugee Appeal Division to give a refused refugee the right to appeal a negative refugee decision. The government has failed to implement this legislation.
Sponsored refugees wait for years overseas for their applications to be processed, often in peril.