Human trafficking `akin to slavery,' Caplan says

BEIJING - Canada is cracking down hard on human smuggling and wants to return illegal migrants to China more rapidly, Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan said here yesterday.

`If we cannot achieve this, then the snakeheads win. It's that simple . . . all of our efforts to intercept boats, detain arrivals, and process claims quickly will have been wasted.'

- Elinor Caplan Immigration Minister

But Caplan conceded that her ``awareness campaign,'' aimed at closing the smuggling routes used by so-called snakeheads, depends heavily on co-operation from the Chinese authorities for success.

No matter how many trafficking operations are intercepted on either side of the Pacific Ocean, the only way to truly stop them is for China to take back returnees more rapidly, she acknowledged.

``If we cannot achieve this, then the snakeheads win. It's that simple,'' she told members of the Canada China Business Council. ``We can't keep them locked up indefinitely, and all of our efforts to intercept boats, detain arrivals, and process claims quickly will have been wasted.''

More than 600 Chinese nationals, crammed into four separate boats, were caught off Canada's West coast last year. Of these, 450 are deciding whether to continue appealing for refugee status, but a further 100 are ready to be removed once China provides the needed paperwork.

Until China speeds up the documentation for these admittedly illegal migrants, they will remain in detention in Canada. Now, Caplan's challenge is to put pressure on the Chinese authorities, who are said by Canadian officials to be dragging their feet.

``That's why I am here today - to seek co-operation with my Chinese counterparts, not just to prevent human trafficking operations in the future, but to see that these young people, those in detention, are returned home as soon as possible,'' Caplan said yesterday.

Beijing has previously said it would willingly take back its nationals by the boatload, but remains leery of accepting individuals on a case-by-case basis. China has publicly criticized Canada's refugee determination policy, which gives migrants the right to claim political persecution - and when those claims are accepted, grants them refugee status.

A Fujianese newspaper reported recently that China had helped other countries send back more than 3,000 illegal migrants last year in more than 29 batches. By contrast, Chinese officials have repeatedly complained that Canada's generous refugee determination process serves as an incentive for illegal migrants, who are coached by the snakeheads in how to seek asylum.

In her public comments yesterday, Caplan diplomatically thanked her Chinese counterparts for co-operating in trying to stop human smuggling. But when asked to spell out any progress made this week, she pointedly declined to say whether the Chinese had agreed to Canada's request to speed up repatriation of migrants whose refugee claims had been rejected.

As if echoing the official position, a local Chinese journalist persistently asked Caplan at a news conference yesterday why Canada did not simply send back all the boat people at once, if it wanted to send a strong message of deterrence back across the Pacific. And he questioned why Canada has not followed the example of Australia in distributing warning signs to discourage Fujianese from attempting the trek.

The minister countered that Canadian laws and due process had to be respected, including the obligation to assess any claims of human rights abuses. And she beseeched the Chinese media to convey her message of deterrence to would-be migrants, recalling the bleak circumstances of those awaiting repatriation in Canada.

``I am going to deliver the message to young people not to be deceived by snakeheads,'' she told reporters.

Caplan is scheduled to visit the coastal province of Fujian today - the point of origin for the boat people - for meetings with the provincial governor and security chief chief. In Beijing, she met with the Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and Public Security Minister Jia Chunwang.

Significantly, Beijing's complaints about Canada's refugee policy comes against the backdrop of an unyielding crackdown by the Public Security Bureau on the banned Falun Dafa cult. Scores of cult members were arrested yesterday when they tried to meditate or unfurl banners in Tiananmen Square on the first anniversary of a mass sit-in protesting against government criticism of the mass movement.

Police roughed up the worshippers and bundled them into vans throughout the day, giving shocked foreign tourists outside the Forbidden City a grim reminder that China remains in many ways a police state. Human rights groups have documented numerous cases of arbitrary detention, torture and even deaths of cultists who defied the government's ban.

However, there is no evidence to suggest that the Fujianese boat people arriving off Canada's shores last year were dedicated members of the cult - most of whose adherents are elderly, and disinclined to make difficult voyages abroad arranged by snakeheads.

Yesterday, Caplan made use of the attendance of Chinese journalists at the Business Council meeting to outline the new provisions in legislation unveiled earlier this month, which proposes life prison sentences and $1 million fines for smugglers and their accomplices.

But she brushed aside questions about corruption among local Chinese officials who may be paid off to turn a blind eye to the snakeheads' actions.

Instead, Caplan recited statistics supplied by the Chinese authorities that 289 snakeheads were arrested last year, and 171 so far this year.

``China is doing its part, and I want to thank Chinese officials for their co-operation in working together with us to address these challenges,'' she said.

``Together, we will send a clear message to smugglers and traffickers that they will not succeed.''

Yesterday, the immigration minister was preaching to the converted - Canadian business executives. The question now is whether the snakeheads heed her message; and whether her Chinese counterparts agree to play their part in the rapid repatriation of illegal migrants.