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  WebPosted May 4 2000 5:23 PM EDT




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Deal on Chinese boat people

VANCOUVER - Some of the Chinese migrants who arrived on B.C.'s shores last summer in rusty boats, could soon be going home. About 100 of almost 600 migrants have been ordered deported, but they've been held in B.C. jails because China would not provide them with travel documents.

'We can't detain people indefinitely in Canada'
Now, just days after returning from a trip to China, Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan says an agreement may have been reached with Beijing on returning some illegal Chinese migrants.

"The big thing for me was that when all is said and done, unless we're able to remove foreign nationals back to China in a timely way, then all our efforts are wasted." she says. "We can't detain people indefinitely in Canada, and we've had a problem securing travel documents as quickly as we would have liked."

The Chinese consulate in Vancouver has told her some of the papers are now on their way.

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