Canada defends pandemic policy on asylum-seekers while letting more enter through exemptions

FILE PHOTO: An asylum seeker crosses the border from New York into Canada followed by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer at Roxham Road in Hemmingford, Quebec, Canada March 18, 2020. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi/File Photo

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian government is trying to quash a legal challenge to its policy of turning back asylum-seekers entering the country between border crossings, saying the group bringing it lacks standing, even as it has granted a growing number of exemptions to the policy.

The parties were in court on Thursday arguing over who should be able to bring a case in the public interest.