VANCOUVER (CP) - Chinese migrants smashed almost all the windows, broke doors and lit small fires in a detention facility Monday because they were refused dinner the previous evening, says an advocate who met with them.

"The first thing that came up was that they were not served dinner Sunday night and that they were locked down and they didn't know why," said Victor Wong of the Vancouver Association of Chinese Canadians.

"Something had to have happened before they go out and break windows," said Wong, who also spoke to the RCMP and officials at the Alouette River Correctional Centre in suburban Maple Ridge.

Wong, who has been advocating on the migrants' behalf for the past year, said the migrants asked that he come to the facility Monday while the riot was continuing.

Many of the migrants have been in detention for 10 months since their illegal arrival on British Columbia's shores last summer in four rusty boats.

Wong said tensions began bubbling to the surface after 90 people were deported back to China's Fujian province last month after immigration authorities denied their refugee claims.

"But the trigger was their specific treatment on Sunday evening when they were denied dinner."

Sheldon Green, a B.C. Corrections spokesman, said 17 people in a unit of 49 migrants refused to eat dinner Sunday evening.

"As a result of that, a decision was made to lock the whole house down."

Another 31 migrants in another unit of the all-male medium-security facility east of Vancouver were not involved in the incident and were served dinner, Green said.

The 49 migrants who were locked down were transferred to two maximum security facilities.

About $6,000 in damage resulted from the riot, Green said, adding he doesn't know if charges will be laid.

"Pretty well every window was gone in the dorm unit, two doors were damaged severely, one was slightly damaged and one toilet was damaged."

Migrants have the option of filing formal complaints with the help of on-site interpreters if they have concerns about how they're being treated, Green said.

However, Wong said the migrants told him they're afraid to file complaints.

Wong said he believes all the migrants have been denied refugee status.

Lois Reimer, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, said 100 of 270 people at four detention facilities in the Vancouver area have exhausted the refugee claim process and will be deported back to China.

"We are currently working with the Chinese authorities to get approval to return them to China," Reimer said.

But she wouldn't say if the 49 rioters are among those slated to be returned.

The majority of the remaining 170 detainees whose claims have been denied have appealed to the Federal Court for a review, she said.

Others have applied to the Immigration Department for a risk review, saying their lives would be endangered if they were forced to go back to China, Reimer said.

Federal Immigration Minster Elinor Caplan said Tuesday she understands why the migrants wouldn't want to leave Canada.

"But I am determined, after due process has been exhausted in Canada, that individuals that are inadmissible and not eligible to remain in Canada be removed as quickly as possible," Caplan said.

Meanwhile, British Columbia's Attorney General Andrew Petter has ordered an independent investigation into the riot.

The Investigations Inspections and Standards office is to make recommendations to Petter's ministry.

The office is an independent arm of the ministry and is expected to issue its report in the next few weeks. Corrections B.C. is also conducting its own investigation.

It's the second time this month that Petter has ordered an investigation into incidents at detention facilities housing Chinese migrants.

Last week, seven detainees escaped from the Prince George Regional Correctional Centre about 500 kilometres north of Vancouver.

Police subsequently captured the escapees.

Some 600 migrants arrived on the West Coast between last July and September.

The Immigration Review Board has rejected about 400 refugee claims, while 113 migrants have been returned to China.

Canadawide arrest warrants have been issued for 95 migrants who disappeared after being released into the community.

© The Canadian Press, 2000