The immigration minister has gone to the
home town of some of the 600 Chinese immigrants who landed on the
West Coast last fall. Elinor Caplan went to China's Fujian province.
Caplan wanted to impress on the Chinese that trying to enter
Canada illegally is dangerous. She said those immigrants who don't
get caught can end up working in sweatshop conditions or in the sex
trade trying to pay off the so-called "snakeheads", the people who
organize their trips abroad.
But few Chinese reporters covered her visit.
Caplan was in China to try to get closer co-operation between the
two countries. She told the Chinese that about a hundred of the
immigrants who were caught last year are waiting for travel
documents from China so they can be returned.
But Chinese authorities say Canada should make up its mind on the
matter. They told Caplan it doesn't help when Canada allows some
illegal immigrants to stay in Canada. The Chinese say that only
encourages more people to try to sneak into Canada.
