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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