BEIJING (CP) - Federal Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan denounced the growing trade in illegal immigrants as "akin to human slavery" in a speech Tuesday to the Canada China Business Council.

"Neither Canada nor China can afford to tolerate these criminal practices,"Caplan said in remarks aimed at improving efforts to shut the door on illegal immigration.

By cramming hundreds of illegal immigrants on rickety cargo ships, smugglers "place countless lives in danger and undermine public confidence in both our immigration and refugee programs, and in the many close ties that our countries enjoy," Caplan said.

She vowed that Canada would "adopt tough new measures to deal with those who would abuse its immigration and refugee system."

"By closing the back door to human smugglers and traffickers, we can ensure that the front door remains open to immigrants and genuine refugees."

Caplan said Canada was also working with Chinese officials to co-ordinate efforts and that she was visiting China to "observe first-hand" the initiatives China's Public Security and Frontier Defence officials are taking to halt the illegal traffic.

On Wednesday, she travels to Fujian province, the jumping off point for many of the refugees who attempt to illegally emigrate to Canada, the United States and Australia.

In Fujian, Caplan will meet the provincial governor and the head of the Fujian Public Security Bureau and also discuss with local Chinese officials measures being adopted in Canada.

She said she would also attempt to convey to Chinese people the risks of illegal immigration.

"I am travelling to Fujian to do what I can to warn young people there about what snakeheads have in store for them, and about the dangers of placing their futures in the hands of snakeheads," said Caplan, referring to the Chinese name used for human smugglers.

"It's important that I not only meet with local mayors and officials, but also that the local media report on this," she said.

The minister said the debt taken on by individuals to pay for illegal passage abroad - said to run as high as $60,000 US - typically had to be repaid "over a short and cruel lifetime of illicit activity, sexual exploitation and forced labour."

"Of course, some never make it at all; they simply perish in transit," she said. The minister pointed to recent reports in the international media which said that a boat carrying as many as 220 smuggled migrants had disappeared was believed to have sunk in the Indian Ocean.

Caplan expressed satisfaction with the efforts of the Chinese to curtail the number of people leaving the country illegally, reporting that China had imprisoned some 250 snakeheads last year and that an additional 180 had been detained.

The Chinese have also beefed up security with the establishment of a new, 10,000-member marine police force patrolling coastal waters.

Among new measures being adopted in Canada, Caplan cited a bill she introduced April 6 to bring about a comprehensive reform of the country's immigration and refugee program that would include up to life imprisonment and fines up to $1 million Cdn for migrant trafficking.

Four ships with some 600 Chinese nationals landed off the coast of British Columbia last year. About 100 of the migrants have since been returned to China.

Australia saw 86 boats arrive in 1999, with a total 3,600 people, while the United States has intercepted some 20 ships over the last two years, carrying some 1,200 people.

Caplan said she was saddened by her visit to detention centres in British Columbia, where she saw detainees of last summer's boats, "the naive Chinese nationals who put their lives at risk by selling their futures to the traffickers."

"I remember the fear and the frustration of these young people, many of them just children, as they waited in detention for an uncertain future," said Caplan.

Caplan said that since human smuggling and trafficking were problems of international scope, international solutions were required.

To that end, Canada has assumed a leading role in working with other countries to develop a United Nations convention to combat transnational organized crime, and a related protocol on migrant smuggling.

Here are some facts about the status of Chinese migrants who arrived by boat off the British Columbia coast last year:

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Number of boats: Four

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Number of people aboard: 599, including nine crew.

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Refugee claims made: 549

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Exclusion orders: 41

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Claims approved (as of April 14): eight.

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Number of migrants removed from Canada: 23

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Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Dates of arrival of Chinese migrant ships off the coast of British Columbia last year:

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July 20, 1999: A ship arrives off Nootka Sound carrying 123 people, all seeking refugee status.

Aug. 9: Ship arrives in Gilbert Bay near the Queen Charlotte Islands, with 140 on board. Most claim refugee status.

Aug. 30: Ship arrives in Esperanza Inlet, off northwest coast of Vancouver Island, with 190 on board. Most claim refugee status but 33 are issued exclusion orders, the first step to deportation.

Sept. 9: Ship arrives at Nootka Sound with 146 people on board. Most claim refugee status.

© The Canadian Press, 2000