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Few migrants plan to claim refugee status

  RCMP Cst. Tracy Rook, speak at a news conference in Vancouver Saturday. (The Vancouver Province/Peter Blashill)
RCMP Cst. Tracy Rook, speak at a news conference in Vancouver Saturday. (The Vancouver Province/Peter Blashill)

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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