WORLD NATIONAL SPORTS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT
Few migrants plan to claim refugee status
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RCMP
Cst. Tracy Rook, speak at a news conference in Vancouver
Saturday. (The Vancouver Province/Peter Blashill)
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CAMILLE BAINS
VANCOUVER (CP) - Only a few of the migrants who
landed on the shores of British Columbia after an arduous 60-day
journey from China last week plan to claim refugee status, an
immigration official says.
Lorna Tessier said Sunday the group's apparent
intentions are in stark contrast to the first boatload of Chinese
migrants last month, when all but two of about 125 people initially
made refugee claims.
The two subsequently decided to join the others
and remain in Canada, Tessier added.
She would not give the exact number of people in the second group
who want to remain here but stressed there were "very few" among the
131 people who have shown an interest so far.
Tessier said immigration officials completed examining the
migrants Sunday morning but that hardly any of them had identity
documents.
The migrants will have another chance to make refugee claims at
the administrative review that began Sunday night, Tessier said.
Those who do not make refugee claims will be removed from Canada
"as soon as is practical," she said.
Authorities have learned more about the group, which is being
detained at the Canadian Forces Base in Esquimalt on Vancouver
Island, Tessier said.
"All have stated that they left an unidentified port between June
10 and June 12 and that they were at sea for 50 days and a further
10 days when they were stationary due to engine problems."
The group also told police late Saturday night that one man was
missing and believed to be in the remote part of the Queen Charlotte
Islands where authorities finally stopped the the smuggling ship,
said RCMP Const. Tracey Rook.
Personnel from coast guard, Parks Canada, and RCMP conducted an
air, water, and land search on Kunghit Island at first light Sunday
morning but failed to find the man.
"If this individual is up there, we are concerned for his health
because of the fact that this is wilderness terrain and there's no
food supply," Rook said.
The search party was to reconvene early Monday with additional
RCMP officers and dog handlers.
The missing man is believed to be in an area of bush where police
rescued four individuals the day after the migrants were spotted.
Rook also said police removed a man from the group on Sunday and
placed him in an RCMP detachment jail near the base where the
migrants are staying.
"Basically, we were concerned and that's why this individual was
moved," Rook said, but would not elaborate.
The man joins three others who are being detained in the jail,
Rook said.
On Saturday, 18 suspected enforcers - agents of the smuggling
ring bosses responsible for keeping the migrants in line and
ensuring they paid up after landing in Canada - were removed from
the main group of migrants.
As well, the ship's nine crew members are being held in a
Victoria jail.
They are to appear in court Monday on charges under the
Immigration Act of aiding and abetting a party of 10 or more to
illegally enter the country and causing a person to disembark at
sea. They face fines of up to $500,000 or 10 years in jail.
Police believe the crew members are South Korean.
The South Korean government said last week the suspected
smugglers face prosecution in Korea if they are returned home.
Rook said Saturday police expect more illegal migrants to show up
on the West Coast as part of a global trend in human smuggling.
The National Post reported Monday that Chinese officials warned
Canada in June that smuggling of illegal aliens to Canada would
increase because of "the weakness and arbitrariness" of our refugee
policies, according to an internal Immigration Department report
leaked to the paper.
"The message was clear in several meetings: You expect us to try
to hold the lid on the boiling pot of illegal migrants, while your
refugees, welfare and legal systems continue to put more kindling on
the fire," the report said.
The Post said the report noted that the Fujianese, the source of
much of the smuggling, were "trying very hard to contain illegal
migration, and have halted 10,000 would-be illegal migrants since
1989 and caught 300 persons involved in organizing smuggling in 1998
alone."
Navy Lt.-Cmdr. Gerry Pash said Sunday the military will be able
to step up its patrols off the West Coast with the help of a new
submarine that will be permanently stationed in British Columbia
starting next year.
The West Coast has not had a submarine since the 1960s, Pash
said.
The submarine, which will complement surface ships and aircraft,
will allow the military to conduct surveillance undetected for seven
weeks at a time, Pash said.
The vessel is one of four second-hand submarines the government
has purchased from Britain. They will replace the existing fleet of
three obsolete submarines that are stationed on the East Coast, Pash
said.
The Defence Department had been looking into buying the
submarines since the mid-80s but finally decided to purchase them
earlier this year.
Tessier said authorities are towing the migrants' ship to the
Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, where immigration and RCMP officials
will conduct an investigation.
It is being towed from Port Hardy, on the north end of Vancouver
Island, from where the migrants disembarked after they were
arrested.
Meanwhile, ninety-seven per cent of respondents to a Victoria
Times Colonist newspaper poll Saturday said the two boatloads of
Chinese migrants should be sent home.
© The Canadian Press, 1999
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