Tuesday, July 27

KIM LUNMAN
British Columbia Bureau
Tuesday, July 27, 1999

Victoria -- Illegal Chinese immigrants at the centre of a human-smuggling ring will be led into detention hearings today amid tight security because police found makeshift weapons in the military-base gymnasium where they spent their first week in Canada.

Immigration officials said yesterday that they will seek to detain most of the 123 passengers discovered in a rusty fishing boat off the west coast of Vancouver Island last week. The 106 men and 17 women, who are claiming refugee status, will be handcuffed at the hearings that are to start today before four immigration adjudicators at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt.

Police said yesterday a search of the gymnasium revealed the weapons hidden in the cots, bedding and pillows of at least 10 of the refugee claimants.

They included safety pins, tinfoil plates, pens, metal plugs taken from the gymnasium's floor and hair combs.

"Small items were concealed that could have possibly been used as weapons," said RCMP Constable Tracey Rook, adding that security was increased to protect other immigrants, immigration officials, police and military personnel at the site.

The items were discovered after security officials saw one of the men tearing a tinfoil plate after dinner. Styrofoam is now being used for all meals, Constable Rook said.

The Immigration Department will seek to detain "the vast majority" of the passengers, including 19 men who are segregated and believed to be smuggling organizers, department spokeswoman Lorna Tessier said.

She would not say how many the department will not seek to detain. "There may be some who we are satisfied of their identities."
A department official later said that some of the passengers, originally reported to have no documentation, supplied proof of identity to authorities.

None of the passengers had passports when the Canadian Coast Guard found them aboard an unmarked vessel last Tuesday in Nookta Sound. Some paid as much as $40,000 (U.S.) to make a 39-day voyage from Fujian province in China. There were 13 teenaged boys among the 123; the youngest is believed to be 14.

Many of the passengers had agreed to work off the cost of a loan to finance the trip after their arrival. The ship's destination is still unknown, and a criminal investigation continues.

Lawyers were interviewing the newcomers yesterday at the military base, where they are sleeping on a row of cots in a gym behind barbed wire and 24-hour military watch.

They are eating Chinese takeout from a Victoria restaurant and are being allowed to take regular exercise breaks outside and read Chinese-language newspapers. Federal officials distributed a letter to the base's neighbouring residents yesterday saying it is uncertain how long the illegal immigrants will stay.

The case has brought a public outcry over Canada's immigration policies. Refugee claimants can qualify for legal aid, welfare and federal health benefits while they await the outcome of their hearings and appeals. That can take months, even years.

Vancouver Reform MP John Reynolds said it's astounding that immigration authorities are not seeking to detain all of the passengers.

"These people are criminals," said Mr. Reynolds, the party's chief justice critic. "They should be sent back home. These people paid to do something illegally, and it's going to cost taxpayers millions of dollars."

One of five lawyers interviewing the claimants through translators yesterday said the passengers are entitled to seek refugee status under Canada's immigration laws and are simply exercising that right.

"There is a process for dealing with refugee status," Victoria lawyer Peter Golden said. "That's the law of the land."

He could not say on what grounds the Chinese immigrants will seek refugee status. It is likely all will seek to be released at the detention hearings that will take place today in four separate hearing rooms.

"These are people claiming refugee status," Mr. Golden said. "If they don't stick around, they won't get status in Canada."

Anyone arriving at Canada's borders from another country can claim refugee status. They must prove they have a well-founded fear of persecution at home based on any of five grounds: nationality, religion, race, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

Immigration authorities can seek to detain the claimants on the grounds they are not likely to appear for their next hearing or present a danger to the Canadian public.

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