Wednesday, August 18,
1999 Officials puzzled by high number of
child migrants
More than 50 Chinese
children travelled on ships without an adult
Adrienne Tanner, Marina Jimenez and Stewart
Bell
National Post
Government officials are mystified by the unprecedented arrival
of more than 50 unaccompanied children who travelled to Canada
without parents or guardians on two ships smuggling migrants from
China's Fujian province.
Lois Boone, B.C.'s Minister of Children and Families, said her
staff has even called other countries looking for some insight.
"My staff has been in discussion with Australia to find out what
their history is, and they say they don't normally get that number
of children on their own."
Ms. Boone said she can't understand why so many parents risked
sending their children across the ocean on ships that were barely
seaworthy. "It certainly causes us a great deal of concern and is
something that's unique."
The first boat, which landed in Nootka Sound on July 20, had 17
unaccompanied teenage boys aged 14 to 18. All have filed refugee
claims and most are living in group homes under ministry care.
As many as 40 unaccompanied children are believed to have come on
the second boatload of people who waded to shore on Aug. 11 on the
Queen Charlotte Islands. Immigration officials are still trying to
determine how many are without guardians. Among the second group are
18 girls, ranging from age 11 to 18.
The cost of housing the children is $8,200 per month, per child,
said Ms. Boone, who plans to ask the federal government to help pay
the bill. If the children win their refugee claims, the ministry
will be obliged to care for them until they turn 19.
Immigration officials have said that 77 of the adult migrants
will be deported after they indicated they came to Canada to improve
their economic standing, and not because they fear persecution.
But an immigration lawyer said yesterday that many of the
migrants do fear persecution if they are returned to China, but
appear unaware that they have the right to make a refugee claim.
Kevin Doyle, a lawyer who interviewed 20 migrants yesterday, said
many of the women told him they have suffered as a result of China's
one-child policy. They must visit the doctor every three months to
ensure they are not pregnant. In some cases, if they miss an
appointment, they are forced to have a tubal ligation or an IUD
inserted. One woman said that she nearly died after being forced to
have an abortion when she was seven months pregnant.
The Canadian Council for Refugees wants an independent
investigation into the conduct of immigration officials dealing with
the migrants. In one case, the group said, an immigration officer
noted that a migrant wanted to make a refugee claim because she
feared she would be beaten and jailed in China, but an exclusion
order was issued against her anyway, meaning she must return to
China. Such orders are issued when a refugee claim is not made.'
RELATED SITES:
(Each link opens a new window)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
The brand-new white paper on immigration policy
Statistics Canada: Immigration and
Citizenship
Statistics from the 1996 national census that look at where
Canadians came from.
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