ADVOCATE
The Canada-U.S. Border Rights Clinic is a project of COMPASS in collaboration with an external steering committee comprised of several members of the Canada-U.S Border Network. The Clinic provides free virtual legal services to people seeking protection at the border where protection, support, and reliable information are critical. The Canada-US Border Rights Clinic has rapidly become recognized as a leading expert in refugee law at the Canadian border.
The Clinic is an essential and tangible response to the expansion of the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA). The STCA restricts access to the Canadian asylum process for people seeking to cross into Canada from the United States via the land border. Many people are at significant risk of being wrongly “directed back” because they don’t understand their eligibility or they have not been properly advised regarding the documentation they need. “Direct backs” result in detention and then deportation to country of origin, without a full assessment of the credibility of their refugee claim.
The Canada-U.S. Border Clinic is funded by:
- The Law Foundation of Ontario
- The Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin Access to Justice Fund (the McLachlin Fund)
- The generosity of individual donors who want people to experience due process and just decisions as they seek protection and life beyond refuge.
You can learn more about the work and impact of the Clinic HERE.
Make a donation to support the Canada-U.S. Border Rights Clinic HERE.
At COMPASS, we also support the self-agency of refugee claimants and others with precarious status who, though they have been through horrible experiences, can speak for themselves. We work to ensure they have every opportunity to understand and decide on matters that affect them.
We participate in several local, provincial, and federal meetings and gatherings, providing what leaders and policy makers need to make decisions that will have significant bearing on refugee claimants’ lives. This includes:
- Providing facts, figures, and stories to help us all see the men, women and children who have come to us seeking protection. We must avoid adding to the injustice and oppression refugee claimants have already experienced because of false narratives and harmful rhetoric.
- Creating opportunities to speak about the unique needs of refugee claimants and the barriers to justice that can loom large in every aspect of their lives.
- Helping communities become stronger by showing how engaging refugee claimants and their willingness to contribute makes for a richer, more integrated community.
- Networking with people and organizations to learn best practices and enhance coordination and quality of services.
Get Involved
COME and add to a growing story of impact that needs no ending. COME and help us ensure that we become so valuable to our community that we could not, not, be here; that none of us could imagine being without each other.
