Friday, August 13,
1999 Immigration minister defends refugee
system Caplan praises staff at airports
for stopping migrants
Joel-Denis Bellavance National Post
OTTAWA - Elinor Caplan, the new Immigration Minister, yesterday
defended Canada's immigration system by saying that Canada is a
world leader at intercepting illegal migrants abroad before they can
set foot on Canadian soil and demand refugee status.
She said that Canadian officials intercepted in 1998 close to
6,300 illegal migrants destined for Canada -- mainly at airports --
almost twice the number than a year earlier, when 3,186 individuals
were stopped.
Officials working for Immigration Canada work at airports in the
United Kingdom, France and the United States and stop suspected
illegal immigrants before they can board planes to Canada.
The same officials also brief airline companies about what people
to look for.
Ms. Caplan said she was confident that Canadians would not
experience an explosion in the number of foreign ships heading into
Canadian waters.
"Our geography does protect us from some of that" the minister
said in a telephone interview. "It is very dangerous and very
precarious for anyone to get on a boat. We have seen tragedies in
the past and I hope that people around the world would be aware of
the dangers of getting themselves in the hands of human smugglers
who are ruthless, desperate people."
The minister said that proposed changes to Canada's immigration
laws -- stronger means to intercept illegal immigrants, stiffer
penalties for people-smugglers and increased use of detention when
people are smuggled into the country -- should serve as a deterrent.
The minister made the comments one day after an unmarked vessel
dumped 130 Chinese immigrants -- including several children -- near
a beach on B.C.'s Queen Charlotte Islands and three weeks after
another 123 Chinese boat people arrived on a ship off Vancouver
Island after several harrowing weeks at sea.
She promised that the refugee status hearings for the latest
boatload of hopefuls would be completed efficiently. It currently
takes about 11 months before a claimant's case is heard. Any
individual facing a deportation order may remain in Canada because
the decision can be appealed.
The Reform party said the Canadian government would be sending a
stronger message to the organizers of smuggling rings and those
tempted to illegally enter the country if the latest refugee
claimants were dealt with in a swift manner.
Leon Benoit, the Reform immigration critic, said Canada could
face a crisis.
"It's not a crisis now because a couple of hundred of people have
arrived by boat," he said. "But we have to send the message now. If
we stick to the old system that we have, which can drag on for
years, we are going to send the message to people smugglers and to
those who would use their services, 'Continue to do it because
Canada let you stay'."
The Reform MP said such a measure is necessary to ensure that
Canadians continue to have faith in their immigration system.
For his part, Pat Martin, the NDP immigration critic, rejected
the suggestion, saying a "hundred more refugees does not mean the
sky is falling or that we are being invaded by aliens."
Ms. Caplan said illegal migration is an international problem
that "requires international cooperation, international solutions
and Canada is co-operating with other countries that are facing the
same concerns that we are."
She said that at least 25,000 people present themselves as
refugee claimants in Canada each year and that "those two boats
represent about 300 people."
"We don't know if we are dealing with refugees at this time. We
have a refugee determination procedure. We are hoping that that
process will be expedited. If people are legitimate, genuine
refugees, I know Canadians will welcome them. If they are not, then
deportation orders will be issued," she said.
Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, refused to comment on the
latest arrival of migrants trying to illegally enter Canada. "The
minister of immigration is handling this problem," he said.
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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