Tuesday, July 27,
1999 RCMP increases security around
migrants after finding weapons
Officials
to rule if Chinese are set free during claim process
Jim Beatty and Chad Skelton
The Vancouver Sun
VICTORIA - Police have tightened the security around 123 Chinese
refugee claimants currently detained in Victoria after RCMP officers
discovered several concealed items they fear could have been used as
makeshift weapons.
The increased security will mean the illegal migrants will be
handcuffed when they attend their first immigration hearing today --
a hearing to determine whether they can be released pending their
refugee claims.
Police revealed the discovery of the weapons yesterday, a day
after an extensive search of the military compound where the Chinese
refugee claimants have been held since their discovery last week
aboard a dilapidated boat off the western coast of Vancouver Island.
Immigration officials say they were part of a human smuggling
operation that brings Chinese to North America.
The compound search was sparked after an RCMP officer noticed a
migrant attempting to conceal a tinfoil dinner plate. The Sunday
night search revealed sharpened pens, combs, safety pins and several
solid brass fittings removed from the floor of the gymnasium where
the migrants are being detained at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt.
"We found hidden or concealed items that had the potential to be
used as weapons," RCMP Const. Tracey Rook said yesterday.
"One individual had taken a tinfoil dinner plate, had torn a
piece off, folded it a number of times and given it a very sharp
edge so that it could be used as a weapon."
None of the objects had been used against Canadian officials in a
threatening way.
Nineteen of the migrants have been identified as being involved
in the organization of the trans-Pacific shipment and have been
segregated from the rest. Const. Rook said the search and discovery
of the weapons was not specific to one group or another.
Today, the Immigration Department will establish two
quasi-judicial courtrooms at the military base. Four adjudicators
will hear the cases of the 123 migrants, all of whom are seeking
refugee status in Canada.
The detention review hearing is primarily to determine whether
the migrants can be released pending their refugee claims or whether
they should continue to be detained.
Immigration officials say they will argue to keep the migrants in
detention.
"We are still not satisfied as to their identity," said Lorna
Tessier, an immigration spokeswoman. She said some of the migrants
continue to be evasive when asked direct questions. Only a few were
carrying documents that could prove their identity.
A team of lawyers who are being paid by government legal aid to
represent the migrants say they will argue for their immediate
release.
Peter Golden, a Victoria immigration lawyer who is co-ordinating
the legal team, said six lawyers, each with an interpreter, will
represent the entire group. None of the migrants speak English.
The lawyers began yesterday morning by speaking to the migrants
in groups, explaining to them the legal process they will face
today. Mr. Golden said the lawyers were then to meet with the
migrants individually to receive instructions about what arguments
to make in front of the detention review hearings today.
Mr. Golden said it was difficult to guess how the migrants would
fare at the detention reviews.
"This is not a typical situation," he said.
The refugee claimants are all from the Chinese province of
Fujian. They have told immigration officials they left home in
mid-June and travelled in the cargo hold of the fishing boat for
about 40 days before being detained by Canadian officials.
Some said they paid as much as $39,000 (US) for passage to
Canada.
The ship, which had no flag, no name and was listing badly, was
spotted in Nootka Sound early last week by a Fisheries Department
aircraft and was later boarded by the Canadian Coast Guard.
On board were 123 Chinese nationals -- including 17 women and 13
teenage boys -- who were living in the cargo hold of the filthy
boat.
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