U.S. travel ban sparks 'research-a-thon' at Dalhousie University

The U.S. travel ban imposed on citizens ofseven predominantly Muslim countrieshas law schools across Canada supporting a group that helps refugees seeking asylum in Canada.

The Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University held a "research-a-thon" Saturday with the goal of creating summaries of relevant or important legal documents to be used by the Canadian Council for Refugees.

• U.S. travel ban on hold, Trump vows to fight it

"Many of us were quite upset about the executive order that was signed by President Trump last week," said Ria Guidone, a third-year law student and the organizer of the event.

"We decided something needed to be done and some great students at McGill got together and reached out to all the laws schools across the country and offered this opportunity to participate in a research-a-thon."

On Friday, thetravel banwas put on holdbya U.S. district judge from Seattle who, along with the states of Washington and Minnesota, challenged President Donald Trump's executive order.

Each law school has been given one particular area of research to explore so there is no overlap.

"We're looking into different kind of legislative provisions, jurisdictional issues, jurisprudence and human rights law," said Guidone.

She said thesummaries should be helpful to the Canadian Council for Refugeesbecause of the Canada-U.S. Third Country Safety Agreement.

The act came into effect in 2004. According to a donation page the law students are using to raise money for the refugee council,the act prohibits asylum seekers from making refugee claims at the U.S.-Canada border. In other words, those who try to enter Canada through the U.S. are returned to the U.S. regardless of whether they qualify for asylum there because Canada considers the U.S. to be a safe country.

"It's problematic ... since people are being sent home, but then they can't then come and see if they can come into Canada [from the U.S.]," said Guidone.

She estimatedabout 50 people would dropin throughout the day. She said two alumni have also volunteered to help with the research from home and that faculty have been helping.

Among those helping with the research was Jessica Habet, an international student in her third year at the law school.

"Dal law has always been extremely supportive and an inclusive environment, so it wasn't surprising to see this kind of reaction," she said.

Originally from Belize, Habetsaid she has empathy for the people being denied entry into the U.S.

"I immediately knew it was wrong and against all human rights because it was arbitrary and discriminatory, so we knew we had to do something," said Habet.

"I think law is extremely powerful in these situations because we're dealing with an executive order and we're trying to show that the rule of law exists. There's due process for people."