Refugees Rush to Canada to Beat an Asylum Deadline

[Rose Siding]

snip>
The sudden exodus to Canada was caused by the Safe Third Country Agreement signed by Ottawa and Washington in December 2002. The treaty takes effect Wednesday and is meant to prevent what officials in both countries call "shopping for asylum." It requires refugees seeking asylum to do so in whichever country they reach first.

Canada is generally considered the more liberal of the two countries in refugee matters, but it is more difficult to reach than the United States because it receives international flights from far fewer countries and there are more American consular offices around the world to process claims.

Officials said the agreement would enhance the orderly handling of asylum claims in two countries historically committed to the protection of refugees.
...
Advocates {for refugees} on both sides of the border expressed disappointment that Canada pushed for the agreement. "I feel that this brings back echoes of the worst in Canada's history," said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, referring to when Canada refused to open its doors to European Jews fleeing Nazi oppression.

Beginning on Wednesday, immigrants who travel through the United States and seek asylum in Canada, at a point of entry on the border, will generally be sent back to the United States to apply for asylum.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/international/americas/28canada.html

[justinsb]

1. Here is the CBC link

I posted in the Canada section

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/12/28/refugees-border041228.html

[Maple]

2. Temporary shelters have been set up

Dec. 15, 2004. 01:00 AM

Shelter braces for flood of claimants
Hundreds expected across U.S. border Niagara area rallies
to help new arrivals


CARMELA FRAGOMENI
TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE

WELLAND—It's not the Hilton Hotel by any stretch, but an emergency shelter set up in a shut-down nursing home is still a comfort to hundreds of refugees coming across the Fort Erie border before a new law in two weeks limits who can seek refugee status from within the U.S.

The first family into the shelter yesterday, a Colombian couple with a daughter, found a room with bare floors and walls, makeshift curtains and three tiny cots. But it will be heaven after fleeing terror and death threats.

Another couple expected yesterday came from the Congo, where the husband was beaten and burned and his wife sexually assaulted, said Theresa Anzovino, executive director of the Multicultural Centre of Fort Erie and the Refugee Reception Centre at the border.

SNIP
The shelter can hold up to 350 people, and Hutchings said it's expected to get 20 to 30 new people a day until it is full. He said 535 refugees are currently scheduled to go through the claimant process at the border.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1103065819822&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes