ESQUIMALT -- Immigration Canada plans to deport back to China
more than half the 131 members of a second boatload of migrants
smuggled into B.C. last week.
Spokesman Jim Redmond said yesterday that senior immigration
officers determined during interviews that 77 of the migrants are
not eligible to file refugee claims.
Exclusion orders have been obtained against the 77 -- the first
step in removing them from Canada.
"We will act quickly," said Redmond, manager of Victoria's
immigration office. "The reason they are being sent back is because
they are inadmissible to Canada.
"From our analysis, it appears the primary reason for coming to
Canada is economic. There's an interest in coming to Canada to work.
"They're indicating to us that they're here to make money. And
more money than they can make in their country of origin."
In addition to obtaining the 77 exclusion orders, Redmond said
Immigration Canada has decided that 10 other people aboard the boat
are eligible to make refugee claims. One adult male is still being
interviewed.
Most of the 18 "enforcers" who were on the ship to protect the
interests of the smugglers are among those who will be sent back to
China.
Six children who came with their parents are among those
immigration will seek to deport. The fate of the other 43 children
remains undetermined, as it involves joint decisions with B.C.'s
ministry for children and families.
Yesterday's announcement drew suspicion about the role of public
pressure in the decision-making process. The arrival in B.C. on July
20 of a first boatload of 123 would-be refugees was met with
skepticism.
By the time the second boatload turned up last week, politicians,
radio hosts and immigration critics alike were calling for an
overhaul of Canada's refugee determination process.
Here in Victoria, where resources were stretched to the limit by
the first migrants, an angry mood has set in.
"GO HOME" was the headline in the Victoria Times Colonist Sunday,
with an accompanying reader poll showing that 97 per cent of
respondents favour immediate deportation.
But Redmond dismissed suggestions that immigration was buckling
under public sentiment. He said examinations of the two boatloads
differed drastically.
"We ask questions about why they're coming to Canada. Is there
anything they fear in China? Is there anything they fear in going
back to China?" he said. "I can't tell you why, but in the initial
exams [with the first group], all but two said, 'We're here to be
refugees.'
"With the second group, they indicated that they were put on the
boat, they were going to what they referred to as the Golden
Mountain, and they were going to work."
Refugee eligibility is limited to those who face persecution for
one of five things, according to the Geneva Convention: Race,
religion, ethnicity, political beliefs or membership in a particular
social group. So-called economic refugees cannot apply.
Lawyers for the second group of migrants complained on the
weekend that immigration officials have overstepped their bounds.
Peter Golden, who heads a team of 10 lawyers involved in the case,
said officials restricted access to legal aid and told the migrants
outright that they don't qualify as refugees -- even if they face
punishment on returning home.
Redmond said yesterday that under the terms of the Immigration
Act, illegal immigrants are not entitled to legal counsel during
initial interviews with investigators. Since the exclusion orders
were obtained, the 77 migrants involved have been advised that they
can speak to a lawyer, and many have chosen to do so.
Meanwhile, Redmond said, immigration will seek to detain all 131
people for seven more days, at hearings to be held tomorrow.
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