Friday, August 13,
1999 Canadian laws lure illegal Chinese
immigrants: envoy
A 'success' for
migrants: Diplomats say China makes effort to deter human
smuggling
Adrienne Tanner
National
Post
A Chinese diplomat says Canada's immigration laws are partly to
blame for tempting illegal immigrants to leave China.
"The laws of Canada are quite attractive," says Ping Huan,
counsellor general at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa.
"There are some loopholes and they feel if they can land in your
country they can manage to survive."
Mr. Huan, who has only been at his Ottawa posting for a few
months, said he was glad to see the Canadian government treating the
two recent boat loads of refugee claimants from China with such
decency. "I care about them."
But he couldn't help feeling slightly surprised to see them freed
so quickly after their arrival.
For the migrants, who risk life and limb on rickety boats to
reach Canada, it makes the journey all worthwhile, he said. "It's a
success actually."
Word travels back to China as quickly as a telephone call, said
Mr. Huan, who noticed news footage of the freed refugee claimants
lining up with phone cards to make long distance calls from Victoria
last month.
Both Mr. Huan and Jiang Yuan, vice counsellor general at the
Chinese consulate in Vancouver, stressed that China condemns the
smuggling rings that aid illegal immigration and does what it can to
staunch the flow.
In 1994, the government passed a law against people smuggling
from China to countries abroad. Another law governs the entry and
exit for all Chinese citizens.
Mr. Huan was not sure of the penalties for either crime, but said
smugglers are "strongly" punished.
The Chinese government also runs educational campaigns warning
that opportunities in North America are not as sweet as the
smugglers, known often as snakeheads, make them out to be, Mr. Jiang
said.
"Don't be fooled by human smugglers. Don't believe there is an
easy life in the Western world."
In reality, most of the people can't afford to pay up-front for
their rudimentary passage and climb on the boats hugely indebted to
their smugglers. Once in North America, they are sent out to work at
menial jobs and forced to repay loans which can run as high as
$60,000.
Mr. Jiang said illegal immigrants whose asylum claims are
rejected are not severely punished upon their return to China.
"There is no prison term, only a fine. The main purpose is to
educate them," he said.
The failed refugee claimants fear more the backlash from
disgruntled smugglers who have little hope of collecting on their
debts at lower Chinese wage rates.
The arrival of the second group of boat people made headlines in
the Chinese press in Vancouver, where three Chinese language daily
newspapers compete for readers.
Ming Pao ran a full page story, with a headline that emphasized
the children on board.
Susanna Ng, Ming Pao's news editor, said it's very unusual to see
children among the migrants who leave Fujian province by boat.
"The youngest we have ever heard of before was 15 or 16."
The Sing Tao also played up the story, emphasizing reaction from
the Chinese community who seem to believe the refugee claimants are
not true refugees, but economic immigrants hoping for a better life.
In Hong Kong, where the media has been covering the exodus from
Fujian for years,the story got a passing mention.
There was no word in the China Daily, an English language
newspaper in the People's Republic of China. Yesterday's top news
heralded the triumphant return of the country's best table tennis
team.
RELATED SITES:
(Each link opens a new window)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
The brand-new white paper on immigration policy
Statistics Canada: Immigration and
Citizenship
Statistics from the 1996 national census that look at where
Canadians came from.
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