|
|
 |
Home - Help |
 |
![[]](july23yahoonews_files/yahoohome.gif)
| | | | | | |
| |||
By Allan Dowd
ESQUIMALT, British Columbia (Reuters) - When a dilapidated boat crammed with weary Chinese citizens appeared this week in an isolated bay on Canada's Pacific coast, Jim Redmond was not particularly surprised.
Redmond, an immigration officer on Vancouver Island, knew similar boats with human cargoes had shown up in Australia and New Zealand in recent months. So he figured Canada was also on the list of smuggling destinations.
``We've been preparing for this,'' Redmond.
The 122 people unloaded from the boat were held at military base in Esquimalt Thursday as officials began the long process of determining where they were going and how many will eventually be allowed to stay in Canada.
The incident has again raised questions about how Canada deals with illegal immigration. And it comes as the Canadian government is updating refugee laws that critics claim are too lax but which supporters say reflect the country's reputation for kindness.
The 180-foot boat, discovered Tuesday as it was apparently preparing to discharge its passengers along the rugged coastline of Vancouver Island, represented a familiar story for immigration officials around the Pacific Rim.
It departed from China's Fujian province nearly six weeks ago. A craft built for the now-illegal practice of driftnet ocean fishing, it was crudely refitted with wooden sleeping planks to carry people and painted a gloomy dark gray to avoid identification.
The passengers, one of whom said he paid $38,000 to make the journey, found themselves in nightmare conditions. They lived in the ship's small hold amid human waste and with water too contaminated to use for drinking or cooking.
``I'm amazed the boat made it across the Pacific,'' Redmond said.
The high prices that Chinese are willing to pay smugglers -- known as ``snakeheads'' -- have made it an even more profitable business for international Asia-based gangs than smuggling drugs, according to western officials.
More than 100,000 people are leaving China illegally each year, by some media accounts, and many are from Fijian.
Canada is a tempting target. Its Pacific coast has isolated coves for boats to land and the city of Vancouver, which has a large Asian population, is close to the United States -- the ultimate destination for many of the illegal immigrants.
Smugglers also promote Canada because it allows people who claim refugee status to remain in the country while their cases are heard. This week's arrivals may stay for up to two years before a final decision is made, officials said.
Although Canadian immigration officials remain committed to keeping Canada's doors open to legitimate refugees, Immigration Minister Lucienne Robillard has pledged to crack down on the illegal smuggling rings.
The issue has been a political sore point since 1986, when 152 Tamils landed on Canada's East Coast in dinghies, seeking refugee status. A year later, 178 Sikh boat people arrived. Both groups were granted refugee status.
Under new legislation, to be introduced this fall or early in 2000, Canada's outdated immigration laws will be rewritten to make human smuggling an offense punishable by fines, jail and seizure of assets.
Immigration spokeswoman Huguette Shouldice said the current penalties amount to a minor financial slap on the wrist for smugglers.
``Obviously the penalties for smuggling are not a deterrent enough -- there is so much money to be made that the amount of money we're fining people now is just a token of what they are making,'' Shouldice said.
Canada also plans to increase the number of immigration officers it has abroad in an attempt to uncover smuggling pipelines before overloaded ships can depart for Canadian shores.
Although this week's boat was the first of its kind caught on Canada's West Coast, authorities believe it is not the first to have made the attempt. A similar boat was spotted July 8, drifting and abandoned northwest of Vancouver Island.
``It didn't just drift across the Pacific on its own,'' Redmond said.
Redmond said there are limits to what Canada can or will do when a smuggling boat is caught. Asked why officers did not simply send this week's boat back to sea he answered: ``It's not the Canadian way.''
| | | | | | |