ROD MICKLEBURGH
British Columbia Bureau
Tuesday, June 20, 2000

Vancouver -- Canadian immigration officials are prepared for another wave of ocean-crossing Chinese migrants to hit the West Coast this summer, while keeping their fingers crossed that there will be nothing like the tragedy discovered in England.

"We do know there are still people willing to be smuggled, people willing to smuggle them and a large supply of ships," said Jim Redmond, director of marine operations for Citizenship and Immigration in Victoria.

"It's not an absolute given, but I think there is a strong likelihood that we will be receiving migrants here this summer."

Four decrepit boats containing about 600 migrants from Fujian province in China were intercepted off the West Coast last year. Another 25 migrants were found stowed away in a container on board a ship in Vancouver.

Some have predicted as many as 1,200 Chinese migrants may show up on Canadian shores this year.

Mr. Redmond said officials have now fixed up facilities at the Esquimalt naval base near Victoria in anticipation of new arrivals.

At the same time, however, immigration officials here were stunned at the news that 58 migrants had died trying to make it into England.

"We are now seeing actual deaths of this volume. It's unbelievable," one said.

There has already been at least one recent taste of tragedy involving migrants on the West Coast.

On Jan. 10, three migrants were found dead, amid appalling filth and debris, in a container aboard a ship that docked in Seattle. Fifteen others survived.

"That was tough enough," Bob Coleman, deputy director of the local U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service office said. "We had to provide counselling to those involved, including the migrants. I can't imagine what it must have been like for the people over in England."

Vancouver community activist Viktor Yukmun Wong said the events in Dover were "a tragedy waiting to happen," and called on the Canadian government to soften its policies to prevent similar incidents here, noting that hundreds of last summer's boat people remain in B.C. jails.

"Canada has criminalized the boat refugees and leaves open only more dangerous and clandestine modes of transport," he said. "Enforcement and deportation doesn't stop people from coming."

However, since the Seattle deaths, the rash of container stowaways on the West Coast appears to have subsided.

Mike McWhinney, director of Canada Customs for the Metro Vancouver district, said the checking of containers has increased at the port since the stowaways were discovered.

"We continue to keep a vigilant watch and work closely with intelligence officers. So far, there have been no reoccurrences."

On a visit earlier this year to China's Fujian province, Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan worked hard to persuade Chinese authorities to step up their efforts to curb the flow of migrants to Canada.

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