Canada top court upholds migrant pact with the US

Canada's Supreme Court has upheld an asylum pact between Canada and the United States.

The pact - the 2004 Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) - designates the US as a "safe" country for migrants.

It requires refugee claimants to request asylum in the first of the two countries they reach.

Campaigners have long argued that the STCA should be struck down, saying migrants are at a risk of harm in the US.

In a unanimous decision released on Friday, the highest court ruled that the asylum agreement between the two countries does not violate Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which outlines the right "to life, liberty and security of the person".

"In my view, the record does not support the conclusion that the American detention regime is fundamentally unfair," wrote Justice Nicholas Kasirer on behalf of the court.