Escorted to plane under armed guard; hundreds remain

VANCOUVER - Ninety Chinese migrants were put aboard a plane yesterday under armed guard to return to their homeland.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada tried to quietly handle the deportation of 75 men, 11 women and four children who were among almost 600 migrants to arrive illegally off the West Coast last summer.

``We don't want our officers and we don't want the people being removed to be placed at any risk,'' Murray Wilkinson, the acting manager of the department's Vancouver enforcement office, said at a hastily called news conference.

Migrants were given little warning about their departure.

``We can't let any of these people escape,'' Wilkinson said.

It was the largest deportation of the migrants since their arrival in four decrepit boats beginning last July.

So far, 113 of those migrants have been returned to China.

About 20 immigration officers boarded a government-chartered plane in Abbotsford, B.C., to accompany the migrants to an undisclosed location in China. Abbotsford police were asked to provide armed support.

Yesterday's removal comes on the heels of Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan's visit to China last month where she discussed human smuggling with Chinese officials.

Close to 400 Chinese migrants had been in custody in B.C. since the boats carrying passengers from China's Fujian province arrived last summer.

Almost all the migrants made refugee claims. Few have been accepted.

More than 300 claims have been rejected and there are about 50 more migrants awaiting travel documents from China in order to be deported.

Caplan told reporters in Ottawa yesterday the deportation should send a clear message to human smugglers.

``They're not going to win. Removals are a key part of this whole situation,'' Caplan said.

``When I went to China I spoke directly to the most senior officials in the Chinese government to discuss the importance of getting travel documents expeditiously. We've received them and we're moving now as quickly as we can to see that people go home.''

At least one of the migrants was in tears yesterday.

But Wilkinson said many were relieved. ``Largely, they're ready to go home,'' he said at a news conference. ``They've been in custody now for quite a period of time and some of them are, in fact, quite eager about returning to China.''

Jeff Gaulin, of B.C.'s Ministry for Children and Families, said four children, the youngest 8 years old, were reunited with family members to return home.

``The federal government did make a decision to return some of the families to China,'' Gaulin said. ``We are reuniting the children of those parents so they can return home as a family.''

Around midnight Tuesday night two buses loaded with migrants left a mothballed jail in Prince George that has become an ad-hoc immigration detention centre.

Sheldon Green, a spokesperson for B.C. Corrections, said some of the migrants were upset but there were no disturbances at the prison.

``Clearly there were some people who were unhappy, very few as a matter of fact,'' Green said. ``But no disturbances, no general destruction.

``You've got the odd person complaining but that's it.''

As of March 31, the bill for housing and processing the migrants had run to $30 million. The cost of returning them to China is paid by Ottawa.

Victor Wong of the Vancouver Association of Chinese Canadians called the deportation a ``paramilitary operation.''

``These people are not dangerous. They are not criminals,'' Wong said outside the government office where officials made their announcement.

``I think we had some other options for them,'' Wong said. ``Unfortunately, the Canadian government had chosen to forcibly repatriate.

``It's purely a political decision.''

Wong said Canada should consider China's human rights record when making a decision to send migrants home.