Monday, August 16,
1999 Few of boat people make claims for
asylum
May lack coaching: Nine Koreans to
appear in B.C. court today
Stewart Bell
National
Post
ESQUIMALT, B.C. - Only a handful of the 131 Chinese boat people
who came ashore on the British Columbia coast last week have made
refugee claims and the rest could be swiftly deported, immigration
officials said yesterday.
"At this point in time, only a few have indicated a desire to
make a refugee claim. This is quite different from the earlier
arrivals," said Lorna Tessier, spokeswoman for Citizenship and
Immigration Canada.
The illegal migrants were given the chance to make a claim during
their first interviews with immigration officers Friday and
Saturday. A second round of interviews began early yesterday, but
the migrants did not appear to be asking for asylum, Ms. Tessier
said, even when specifically asked.
Asked why they had not, Ms. Tessier said: "Figure it out."
This group of migrants may not have been properly coached by
their smugglers on the simple claim to persecution needed to
initiate Canada's refugee process. The 126 would-be refugees that
arrived on an earlier ship had all made refugee claims by this stage
in the process, often using identical wording to claim asylum.
If members of the latest group do not make their claims soon, the
Immigration Department says it will issue exclusion orders against
them, barring them from making a claim and forcing them to leave the
country.
Few of the migrants have identification documents, but Ms.
Tessier said they told immigration officials they had left China's
Fujian province from an unknown port between June 10 and June 12 and
had spent 10 days adrift at sea due to engine trouble.
Nine Koreans suspected of ferrying the Chinese boat people to
Canada will appear in court today to face human smuggling charges --
the first to be laid since the arrival of both shiploads.
The Koreans were arrested last week after depositing their human
cargo on a deserted beach on the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Authorities would not name those charged, but said they have been
accused under a section of the Immigration Act that makes it
unlawful to be a master or crew member of a vessel that brings
migrants illegally to Canada.
Charges of aiding and abetting a group of 10 or more people to
enter Canada illegally have been recommended for the operators of
the first ship.
Police have confirmed that a third ship was headed for Canada but
was spotted by the Japanese navy and diverted by the U.S. Coast
Guard to the Mariana Islands, near U.S.-controlled Guam.
"This is an ongoing problem and it's being addressed by many
countries," said RCMP Constable Tracey Rook. "We have recognized
that B.C.'s West Coast is a likely target for this type of
activity."
The most recent arrivals are being housed in a gymnasium at the
naval base. Four, however, have been sent to a nearby RCMP jail for
security reasons. Forty-nine are minors and may end up in the
custody of B.C.'s Ministry for Children and Families. Among the
refugee claimants were 18 suspected "enforcers" who officials
believe were sent to make sure the others paid off their debts to
the smugglers by working in restaurants, brothels or sweatshops.
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