WORLD NATIONAL SPORTS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT
Third mystery ship to arrive on B.C. coast
PORT HARDY, B.C. (CP) - Canadian authorities
boarded a ship suspected of carrying more illegal migrants this
morning.
George Varnai, a spokesman with the Department of
Immigration, said the vessel was seized in the northwest area of
Vancouver Island in Canadian waters. "Their first task now is to
make sure they've secured everyone on board," Varnai said of the
Immigration and RCMP workers on the scene.
"There's a fair number of people on board."
Varnai said the ship is "in a pretty decrepit state," similar to
the other two ships that have arrived on B.C. shores in just over a
month.
The ship is being escorted to somewhere south of Port Hardy and
is expected to arrive sometime this afternoon.
However, officials would not say where it is going. They also
wouldn't say exactly where the ship was seized.
Varnai said the ship had no markings, flags or gear and was
identified because it met the profile of vessels used to smuggle
humans.
Original estimates put the number of people on board at about 40,
but Varnai said there are more. He couldn't say where they are from.
However, even a small group is sure to turn up the already loud
volume of the debate over Canada's immigration and refugee policies.
A poll released Tuesday showed Canadians evenly split on whether
the migrants should be sent back or whether they should have access
to the normal refugee process.
Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan made it clear Tuesday that
refugee claimants - no matter how they arrive - are entitled to the
normal process.
A long-range Aurora aircraft spotted the vessel about 80
kilometres off Cape Scott Monday afternoon during a routine patrol.
Lt.-Cmdr. Gerry Pash of Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt said
Citizenship and Immigration asked for assistance from the RCMP, the
Canadian Coast Guard and the Defence Department.
"The ship was first detected offshore, approaching Canada, by an
Aurora aircraft from CFB Comox," Pash said.
Pash declined to reveal the exact location of the vessel.
Immigration authorities were generous with information about the
first ship and the procedure to impound it and transport its
occupants to Esquimalt, near Victoria.
But authorities are being increasingly tight-lipped about such
occurrences.
Sources have said they do not want to tip those aboard the
vessel.
"There's a lot of concern about the safety of everyone,
particularly at night on the ocean," Pash said.
"There were a number of lessons learned during the last
operations and being sparse with specific information is useful to
the investigating agencies."
Port Hardy Mayor Russ Hellberg said many in his community are fed
up.
"We don't mind looking after people in distress, but this is a
little farfetched," the mayor said.
"You saw that last time they came in here we had a few people
that were perturbed. And I certainly expect that if they came in
again we will have more people that are perturbed because we believe
in fairness but fairness believes that you have to get into queue."
Even an RCMP spokesman said the arrivals are "becoming very
problematic for our province and our country.
"We've got to address the issue before it becomes epidemic," said
Corp. Pete Zubersky.
Caplan, the immigration minister, said Tuesday Canada doesn't
know whether or not new arrivals are genuine refugees until they've
gone through the refugee determination procedures.
"The Canadian law is clear, both the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms and the jurisprudence on it is clear," Caplan told
Toronto's CFRB Radio from Ottawa.
"And that is whether people come by boat or by plane or by train
or walk across our border at a border crossing, they are entitled
under Canadian law at this time to make their case so that we can
determine whether they are genuine refugees or not."
The Angus Reid poll for the Globe and Mail and CTV found 49 per
cent of the respondents said the illegal immigrants should be
deported to China immediately, while another 49 per cent said the
boat people should be allowed to stay until their refugee claims are
heard.
A slight majority of respondents - 53 per cent - said Canada's
immigration policy made it too easy to be accepted as a refugee.
Only eight per cent said the policy was too tough. Meanwhile, 34 per
cent said the refugee policy was just about right.
The poll sampled the opinions of 1,502 adult Canadians between
Aug. 23-26 and was considered accurate within 2.5 percentage points
19 times out of 20.
Hellberg said he believes the authorities were caught
"flat-footed. They are a little slow in responding."
"We don't have any salmon fishing going on this year. They
(authorities) should have been able to pick out a ship of this size
on the open sea and stop it from coming in."
But Pash brushed aside the criticism and said all the necessary
agencies were informed.
Rumours of more human smuggling ships have been circulating since
the two earlier ships arrived.
The first ship was found off Nootka Sound, near the northern
Vancouver Island community of Gold River, on July 20.
All 123 Chinese nationals aboard have since claimed refugee
status.
The second ship carrying 131 people arrived Aug. 11 after a
60-day voyage from China.
The migrants were dropped in the water off the southern tip of
the Queen Charlotte Islands and told to wade to shore.
Of those, 57 people face possible deportation. The remaining 74
are being assessed as potential refugees.
Migrants from both ships are believed to be from China's Fujian
province, located on China's east coast across from the island of
Taiwan.
There were 75 minors among the migrants who are now in the care
of the provincial Ministry for Children and Families.
(Victoria Times Colonist, Globe and Mail)
© The Canadian Press, 1999
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