Intercepted immigrants in
custody in B.C.
WebPosted Thu Jul 22
08:33:59 1999
ESQUIMALT, B.C. - After 39 days aboard
a stinking ship a group of illegal immigrants caught Tuesday off
Vancouver Island are being held in a gymnasium on a Canadian Forces
Base, awaiting interviews from immigration authorities.
On Tuesday, a boat
jammed with 122 Chinese trying to sneak into Canada was found off
the coast of Nootka Sound, about 300 kilometres northwest of
Victoria.
Gymnasium at
CFB Esquimalt | Canadian
authorities say they have identified 11 passengers they believe may
be behind one of the biggest human smuggling operations ever
discovered off the West Coast.
"We're keeping them as separate from the others as possible,"
said Jim Redmond, a spokesman for the Department of Citizenship and
Immigration.
The rest of the 104 men and 18 women who were found in the hold
of the 36-metre fishing vessel are being held at Canadian Forces
Base Esquimalt, just outside Victoria.
Cots have been moved into the gymnasium and clothing and showers
were provided. The weary travellers clapped and waved as they were
led away on the base.
Language problems are hampering efforts of investigators to
question the passengers. But none of them appear to have passports
or other identification. Officials say it is an old trick for people
trying to enter the country illegally. The lack of documentation
makes it very difficult to deport them.
Catherine Sas, an immigration lawyer in Vancouver says the
Chinese authorities typically do not accept people without identity
documents. "And so that puts us in the very difficult position, in a
catch 22 situation -- they can't get status in Canada, but Canada
can't effectively remove them," she says.
So far Canadian officials say they do not know who organized this
smuggling operation, but it has all the hallmarks of organized
crime. And little by little, some of the details are emerging.
"The ship left ... from Fuzhou (China)," said George Varnai,
regional director for the department of Citizenship and Immigration.
"Our current assumption is they were trying to unload somewhere on
the coast."
One of the passengers has indicated he paid $38,000 U.S. for his
passage.
Those kinds of fees have made the smuggling of human cargo a huge
international business, with smugglers leaving many countries trying
to get paying passengers into Vancouver, Toronto, New York, Los
Angeles and other North American cities.
A similar ship was found deserted and sinking, off the Queen
Charlotte Islands three weeks ago. Immigration officials admit
they're investigating the possibility that boat may have carried
illegal migrants.
More than a decade ago, two similar shiploads of people were
found on Canada's East Coast:
- In August 1986, more than 150 Tamils were found in two
life-boats off Newfoundland. They claimed refugee status, and many
settled in Montreal and Toronto.
- In 1987, 174 people, most of them Indian Sikhs, waded ashore
in a small community in Nova Scotia. Many of them went to
Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
The Chinese also have the right to claim refugee status. More
will be known after they meet with immigration officials. If the
Chinese do apply for status, Redmond says it could take up to two
years for their appeals to go through the board.
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