Law students in Manitoba join Canadian students to come up with a way to help refugees

WINNIPEG — University of Manitoba law students joined hundreds of law students Canada-wide to brainstorm a way to help refugees seeking asylum in Canada.

Hundreds of students took part all Saturday across the country in a nation-wide research-a-thon in support of the Canadian Council of Refugees.

All 22 faculties of law across the country put their heads together to conduct legal research and draft legal memos to challenge Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement with USA.

The Safe Third Agreement allows Canadian border officials to refuse entry to individuals who have previously arrived in a safe country where they are able to request refugee protections before having entered Canada.

University of Manitoba Law Student, Maddie Pearlman, said this all stems from the executive order that President Trump issued on January 27th.

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“Our concern with the agreement is if that if refugees have passed through the states and they’re coming to seek protection in Canada, they’ll be sent back, and it’s assumed that they came to the US first and it’s safe,” Pearlman said.

She said the concern is about what the potential human rights violations might be.

The law students said they hope they can use their own education to learn more about the issues present and also help find fair treatment of refugees.

“We believe we have a moral obligation to use our legal education to ensure justice for refugees who arrive at Canadian borders seeking asylum,” Pearlman said.

The law students in Manitoba joined their professors and fellow students nation-wide in this research-a-thon in hopes of seeking an end to the enforcement of the Safe Third Agreement.