Wednesday, July 28

KIM LUNMAN
British Columbia Bureau
Wednesday, July 28, 1999

Victoria -- Immigration officials say they will fast-track the refugee claims of the 123 illegal Chinese immigrants at the centre of one of the biggest human-smuggling investigations in Canada's history.

Until yesterday, the 106 men and 17 women intercepted in an unmarked ship off the west coast of Vancouver Island last week were identified as No. 1 through 123 by plastic bracelets around their wrists. They have given officials their names and ages but have no other identification in their applications to stay in the country.

Their refugee hearings, which would normally take up to 10 months to be heard in Vancouver, will be expedited and could be heard as early as September, Lynn Gates, regional director of the Immigration and Refugee Board, told a news conference yesterday.

If denied refugee status, the claimants can be ordered deported but could still appeal to the Federal Court of Canada.

Their cases began at detention hearings yesterday at a naval training school near Victoria amid confusion and high security after a week in custody at a military gymnasium.

By late yesterday afternoon, eight adult male claimants had been denied release and ordered detained for another week while authorities try to verify their identities.

Earlier, twelve of the ship's male passengers, who are believed to be under 18, were the first to appear before an immigration adjudicator. Eleven of them were ordered released into the custody of child-welfare authorities. The hearing was delayed when one of the claimants believed to be a juvenile said he was an adult. Immigration officials say they have no proof of the claimants' ages other than what they have been told them in interviews.

"Their ordeal in arriving in Canada is a tremendous one," lawyer Peter Golden told adjudicator Daphne Shaw-Dyck.

Hearings officer Rick Brummer did not oppose their release into child-welfare custody, provided that they report to immigration officials and notify authorities of any change of address.

The refugee claimants were led into the hearings in handcuffs, coveralls and sandals. The juveniles stood up when their names were called and were silent during the first of the hearings as translators, hearings officers and lawyers discussed the cases in English and Mandarin. RCMP officers stood guard.

Ms. Shaw-Dyck agreed to release the youths into the care of B.C.'s Ministry of Children and Families after they have medical examinations today.

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