The
lawyer for the first of the Chinese migrants to be granted refugee
status in Canada says he's worried about the woman's safety at the
hands of the gangsters who smuggled her across the sea.
She was released from detention Thursday after the Immigration
and Refugee Board approved her refugee claim.
Some 500 Chinese migrants who arrived in boats off the West Coast
last summer have applied to remain in Canada. So far, she's the only
one to be accepted.
Lawyer Shane Molyneaux, who argued the woman's case before the
board, said she based her refugee claim on two issues.
One is her opposition to family planning policies in China.
Molyneaux is reluctant to talk about the other issue but it
involves events that happened to her since she left China that would
put her at risk if she returned.
That could mean there's been intimidation from the criminal gangs
who brought her on the smuggling boat.
That's what Victor Wong fears. His association helped the woman
find a safe place to stay.
"We have a variety of reports, at least three out of New York, of
intimidation and coercion and at least one kidnapping from Canada
into the United States," Wong told CBC News.
Still, this woman's one of the lucky ones -- hundreds of other
Chinese migrants are stuck in B.C. jails waiting to argue their
claims -- and 36 other men and women have already had their cases
dismissed.
Many of those whose refugee claims failed, argued economic
hardship or religious persecution. The board either didn't believe
their stories or decided there was a low risk of facing persecution
if they were sent back to China.
