Monday, August 16,
1999 B.C. residents tell newspaper poll
they want 250 migrants returned to China
97% favour deportation
The Times Colonist
VICTORIA - A record number of respondents to a poll in a British
Columbia newspaper want more than 250 Chinese migrants who have
landed on the West Coast to go back home.
The 3,362 respondents answered an unscientific poll by Victoria's
newspaper, The Times Colonist, on Saturday about whether the
migrants should be sent back to their country of origin. The
response was an overwhelming yes.
Of the poll respondents, 97% said they felt compassion for the
Chinese migrants but that they should be returned home to enter
Canada legally.
Two separate boatloads of Chinese refugees have arrived on
British Columbia's shores in less than a month.
The latest group of 131 people -- who are believed to have spent
a harrowing 58 days at sea -- arrived last week and includes
children, one as young as eight.
Respondent John Scratchley said Canada must stop being a doormat
for illegal migrants.
"This is about people doing illegal acts and leap-frogging all
those would-be immigrants who are complying with the necessary
requirements for entry into this country," Mr. Scratchley said.
Dr. D. Liang, who came to Canada from China in 1965, said the
boat people are not refugees, but immigrants who should take the
legal route.
"Although [they are] not illegal, it is my considered opinion
that they should not even be allowed to land on Canadian soil," Dr.
Liang said. "They should be returned to their point of origin with
the reassurance that their application through normal channels would
receive sympathetic consideration."
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