Smuggled would-be immigrants face long
process
|
 A
group of Asians crowd the bow of a ship in the waters
near Tahsis, B.C., on the west coast of Vancouver
Island. (Vancouver Province-Arlen Redekop)
|
DENE MOORE AND SCOTT SUTHERLAND
ESQUIMALT, B.C. (CP) - More than 100 Chinese
citizens, the human cargo of an apparent smuggling operation,
arrived at a military base near Victoria this morning.
Some of the people aboard the three
schoolbuses that brought them here from remote Gold River,
B.C., smiled and clapped as they arrived. Others appeared
dazed.
They were left on the buses as hectic
preparations to house them continued at Canadian Forces Base
Esquimalt.
Crews worked overnight to build a two-metre-high fence
around the large gymnasium at Work Point training facility
that will become their temporary home.
The gym had been fenced on three sides.
The base bustled with activity, with RCMP and Immigration
officials working out of vans in the parking lot.
"All the gym gear's been moved out and there's 125 folding
camp cots that have been set up," said base Lt. Cmdr. Chris
Henderson.
"There's a feeding area and a separate sitting area. And
the facility has its own showers and its own toilets inside so
that's a convenience." u
Many in the group of 122 were dressed in their Sunday-best
suits and happily waved to reporters after they were taken
from the filthy, stinking hold of the ship.
Others sat exhausted with their heads slumped to one side.
A few were in handcuffs.
"At one time there was discussion about handcuffing them
all," said RCMP Insp. Brian Huddle.
"But some were more passive and docile. Obviously, some of
them are handcuffed because they represent some danger, either
to the escort crew or other passengers.
"There were no problems leading them off the boat. They all
were very co-operative."
The passengers - 104 men and 18 women - spent about 38 days
at sea without proper sanitation on the rust-pocked ship which
carried no markings or other means of identification.
Henderson said the ship was out of the Chinese city of
Fuzhou.
They spent all day Tuesday anchored in an isolated inlet
between Gold River and Tahsis, about 300 kilometres northwest
of Victoria.
It took hours for police, immigration and health officials
to question the would-be immigrants and then feed them.
It took another four hours to tow the garbage-strewn ship
to a port at an abandoned pulp mill along the rugged, remote
west coast of Vancouver Island.
Now on land, the passengers are considered under arrest.
They'll face a long process before their hopes of
immigrating to another country come true and they may never.
It could be days before they receive an immigration
hearing.
"We're assuming they are people who don't have legal
status," said Lois Reimer, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and
Immigration. "If they don't claim refugee status . . . then
we're looking at deportation."
For those who do claim refugee status, it will be months -
possibly years - before their claims are resolved. Even then,
it's not certain they will be successful, she said.
"We have genuine refugees from China, but it's not a given
that because they're from China they're refugees."
That uncertainty is a better fate than what the passengers
might have faced with the smugglers.
Cpl. Ray Legare, of Victoria RCMP customs and immigration,
told the Vancouver Sun that recent investigations show illegal
aliens smuggled in by boat have paid up to $40,000 for their
passage.
Those who can't pay must work off their debt through
indenture and slavery, Legare said.
Jim Redmond of Citizenship and Immigration called human
smuggling "organized crime at its worst."
At least two people aboard the vessel attempted to make it
to shore in a makeshift raft, said RCMP Cpl. Grant Learned.
But they swam into the arms of off-duty Washington state
police officers who were on a fishing trip. They were turned
over to RCMP and arrested.
"They were really agitated and they didn't speak any
English at all," said Brian Krasko of Nanaimo, B.C., who was
fishing when the pair were caught.
"All that they (the Washington fishermen) could figure out
is these guys wanted a telephone," Krasko said in an interview
with the Vancouver Province.
The area where the ship was discovered is characterized by
sheltered, tree-lined inlets and mountainous, rugged
coastline. The Pacific waters are particularly cold there.
There are a few native settlements in the area but the
population is sparse. Getting around is done mostly on logging
roads or by boat or airplane.
Authorities from several agencies - the coast guard, RCMP,
Health Canada, Citizenship and National Defence - waited into
the night for bio-hazard suits that would allow them to board
the ship.
Officials were concerned the passengers may carry
infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria. A
quarantine was considered, but only two were ill and not
seriously, Learned said.
The ship was spotted early Tuesday by a Fisheries
Department patrol plane and it raised suspicions because of
the lack of markings, flag or name.
Redmond said organized crime is certainly involved in the
smuggling operation and there are likely criminals included
among the people aboard the ship.
"We don't know what kind of criminal element is on board
but we do know it's not necessarily good for the country
because if it was, they would apply through the legal
channels."