Wednesday, August 11

Audrey Macklin

Wednesday, August 11, 1999

Halifax -- Distinguishing between refugee claimants who are genuinely fleeing persecution and those who have other reasons for coming to Canada is not always an easy task. Except for The Globe and Mail, it seems. Apparently those who pay money to be smuggled and do not bring identity documents are clearly not refugees. How you arrive at such an inference mystifies me.

I don't know whether any, some or all of the Chinese claimants (whom you have presumptively concluded are "illegal immigrants") on board that ship meet the definition of a Convention refugee.

Based on my past experience as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, I would consider it arrogant to assert a conclusion about the status of 123 refugee claimants without hearing the stories and listening to the evidence, as required by basic principles of fairness. I guess The Globe, unburdened by experience or expertise, feels no such restraint.

associate professor of law, Dalhousie Law School,