Thursday, August 12

BRIAN LAGHI
Parliamentary Bureau; With a report from Jeff Sallot
Thursday, August 12, 1999

Ottawa -- Canada's new Immigration Minister rejected suggestions yesterday that Ottawa use its naval power to turn back human-cargo ships, saying that to do so could endanger those on board.

"We are dealing with human life," said Elinor Caplan, who was thrust into the issue after a ship abandoned about 150 people yesterday just off Kunghit Island in the Queen Charlotte Islands.

"There are those who are suggesting that we use force and I say to them, are you proposing that we sink the boat? Is that what you're saying?"

The people on the ship were apparently dumped in the water and had to make their way to shore. Ms. Caplan told reporters several incidents have been reported in the past of people being thrown overboard after their ships failed to reach their foreign destinations.

The minister also said she is not considering using the Constitution's notwithstanding clause to strip migrants of their automatic right to refugee hearings.

People who arrive from foreign countries have the right to make a refugee claim, and, in most cases, to a hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board. Critics say illegal migrants take advantage of the right to a hearing to land in Canada temporarily and then disappear.
The minister, who has been on the job for just one week, said yesterday that the latest incident demonstrates the need for the government to follow through with plans laid out earlier this year to crack down on illegal immigration.

"I want to make it clear that I deplore the actions of human smugglers," she said. "I am also deeply concerned about the increasing number of people who turn to the criminal element in choosing to enter Canada surreptitiously and illegally."

The government has made a number of recommendations to get tough, including the addition of more officers to catch illegal immigrants, stiffer jail sentences for those who break the law and the increased use of detention.

Among its proposals, the government says that refugee claimants who refuse to co-operate in establishing their identities could be detained and that officers should increase disembarkation checks as passengers leave aircraft.

Leon Benoit, the Reform Party critic for immigration, said he may seek Parliament's early recall to send a message that Canada will not tolerate illegal immigration.

"It's glaringly obvious that Canada is a primary target for illegal people-smuggling operations and the Liberal government is to blame," said Mr. Benoit, MP for the Alberta riding of Lakeland.

He said that all refugee claimants entering Canada in suspicious circumstances should be detained until their identities are verified or until they have had their hearings.

He also called for speedier refugee hearings to cut down on the time that bogus claimants can take advantage of the Canadian economy and social services.

"The Liberal government must let the rest of the world know that Canada is not an easy mark."

Although the federal government can beef up regulations and stiffen jail sentences, it would have to take the extraordinary step of stripping the arrivals of some of their constitutional rights if it refused them the refugee-claim right.

Ms. Caplan said she wasn't considering such a move, which would require the use of the notwithstanding clause, a constitutional mechanism to get around the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Currently, any newcomer can claim asylum and, unless he or she is a known or suspected terrorist, be given a hearing. It takes about 11 months for the Immigration and Review Board to decide a case, and an unsuccessful claimant has several avenues of appeal.

In some cases, the individuals abandon their claims altogether. In the case of claimants from China last year, 647 of 1,381 claimants did not follow through on their claims.

The federal government does not know where they are, but reports in the news media have speculated that they may have slipped across the border to work in low-paying jobs in New York City in such industries as garment manufacturing. The ratio of abandoned claims was by far the highest among those those arriving from China, according to statistics provided by the IRB.

Last month, an unmarked vessel arrived on the west coast of Vancouver Island carrying 123 Chinese. Officials believe they were being smuggled into Canada. Once in the country, they claimed refugee status.

A total of 4,181 individuals from around the world abandoned their claims last year. At the same time, the IRB approved about 13,000 claims out of the 29,000 cases it dealt with.

Francisco Rico-Martinez, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, said yesterday he is upset with the Reform Party's attacks on the institution of asylum.

The government, he said, should resist calls to divert boats, saying to do so might send legitimate refugees back to face persecution.

Mr. Rico-Martinez added that those who try to stay in Canada by abandoning their claims face a difficult life. Most lack the official documents required to rent an apartment, drive a car or receive medical care.

Meanwhile yesterday, an immigration official in Washington said that boat people may be heading to Canadian shores rather than U.S. coasts because the U.S. crackdown on people-smuggling has been so effective in recent years.

Illegal immigrants know it is relatively easier to make it to the Canadian coast, and once ashore, win release from custody and disappear, Russ Bergeron, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, said in an interview.

Mr. Bergeron said U.S. authorities will sometimes divert such ships to other countries rather than let the passengers set foot on U.S. territory. Under U.S. law, refugee claimants do not get a full judicial hearing of their claims unless they set foot on U.S. soil.

If a ship is intercepted at sea -- even if it is already within U.S. territorial waters -- immigration officials conduct on-board interviews to determine whether anyone has a legitimate claim for political asylum. People-smuggling ships intercepted on the Pacific Ocean are sometimes forced to go to Mexican ports, Mr. Bergeron said. On the Atlantic, ports in Bermuda have been used.

Within Canada's 24-mile nautical border, enforcement authorities can tell ships' captains to leave as well as warn them they face prosecution. Efforts to chase the ships out of Canadian waters are also an option. However, once a Canadian immigration official boards the ship, its passengers can set the refugee process in motion by making a claim.

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