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Sunday September 19 4:48 PM ET
VANCOUVER (CP) - Chinese migrants coming to Canada illegally face a perilous journey from beginning to end and pay a hefty price for the privilege - sometimes their very lives.
The arrival of almost 600 Fujianese off the B.C. coast this summer focused attention on a problem plaguing Canada and most of its western counterparts. The four boatloads of migrants intercepted off the coast are dwarfed by the number of migrants who arrive each year at Canadian airports with false documents or none at all.
"We're still getting people arriving every day across Canada on planes," said Immigration Department spokesman George Varnai.
It is estimated that more than 25,000 refugee claimants arrive in Canada each year, most by plane.
Human smuggling by boat is "very, very dramatic but it's not the only game in town," Varnai said.
Many hope to enter the United States undetected over the world's longest unfortified border.
The number of illegal migrants crossing into the United States from Canada pales in comparison with the number from Mexico, but the problem is growing.
And while thousands make it, many do not.
Earlier this year four Chinese women were taken to hospital suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning after they were found hidden under a truck crossing into New York State at Niagara Falls. They reportedly paid $2,000 for the precarious transportation.
Another migrant was killed by a train while trying to cross the border at night. Others have drowned trying to cross the St. Lawrence River under cover of darkness.
"The organizations who are running these smuggling routes are putting these (people) at great risk," said Sgt. Bill MacDonald of the RCMP immigration section in Ottawa.
The journey from China to the sweat shops of New York City is "fraught with peril," he said.
Three of the four boats that arrived off the B.C. coast this summer were so dilapidated, authorities considered them unseaworthy.
Some speculate it's just a matter of time before a ship goes down - if it hasn't happened already.
But illegal migration to North America is an industry worth up to $4 billion US a year, according to 1996 figures from the American Centre for the Study of Asian Enterprise Crime.
A California immigration official warned in 1992, when that state experienced a flood of illegal migration, that British Columbia would soon face the same problem.
"You guys will have to be watching for the same thing," David Ilchert of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service said after a boat loaded with 180 migrants landed in San Francisco.
British Columbia had not experienced such large-scale smuggling but the problem was evident elsewhere in the country.
A major smuggling ring transporting migrants into the United States along the St. Lawrence River was busted in December 1998. Eight Canadians and 23 Americans were arrested following a year-long investigation.
Authorities believed 33 runs were made in 60 days, moving eight to 24 people each time. The illegal migrants paid $40,000 US or more for passage, some paying the debts later by working as indentured servants.
And RCMP arrested 13 Canadians - eight from B.C. and four from Ontario - in November 1996 for illegal migrant smuggling.
The $30-million operation was believed to have moved up to 40 people a month for several years into Canada and then down to the United States.
In both cases most of the migrants were from China's coastal Fujian province.
There are no hard figures available, but it has been estimated that about 12,000 Fujian Chinese enter the United States illegally every year, many through Canada.
American authorities know there is a vast underground network trafficking in illegal migrants, but cannot keep up with the flow.
Even when arrests are made, the sentences for human smuggling aren't much of a deterrent.
Nine Korean crew members arrested trying to flee Canadian waters after dumping 131 illegal migrants off a remote northern B.C. island face 10 years imprisonment or a $500,000 fine.
But those convicted of human smuggling in Canadian courts have faced as little as a few months in jail and fines dwarfed by the potential profit.
Many of the migrants who have arrived in British Columbia this summer reported paying $30,000 to $40,000 each - a near $18-million payoff for the four boats.
In the United States the average human smuggler receives a 28-month sentence.
Human smuggling is organized by Asian gangs, called triads, with connections throughout the Pacific, according to MacDonald.
Law enforcement officials say they are well aware of Canada's refugee-claims process, which guarantees them entry into the country and buys them time to take migrants underground to the United States.
Varnai said immigration officials don't know what caused the sudden influx of migrants to British Columbia.
But illegal immigration is a worldwide phenomenon.
About 1,000 seaborne migrants have landed on Australia's shores this year, prompting the government to invoke tough new laws that jail smugglers for up to 20 years.
Most illegal migrants to the South Pacific country are returned home, sometimes within weeks of landing on Australian soil.
MacDonald said RCMP resources are stretched to the limit trying to deal with illegal immigration.
In 1998, RCMP opened 1,025 organized crime-related human smuggling cases and seized 1,294 counterfeit travel documents worth $94 million on the black market.
From 1996 to 1998, the force stopped more than 1,000 people from getting to Canada illegally.
"Instead of sitting here and waiting for them to arrive, let's stop them from leaving," MacDonald said. "We've got to convince them the trip really isn't worth it."
A list of four known migrant ships to arrive off B.C. coast this summer and the status of their passengers:
Ship 1: Arrived July 20 off Nootka Sound; 123 aboard, including 19 suspected smugglers; all seeking refugee status; 76 released; 37 still detained; 10 juveniles in care of B.C. Children's Ministry; Canada-wide arrest warrants issued for 37 who disappeared after release.
Ship 2: Arrived Aug. 11 off Kunghit Island near Queen Charlottes; 131 on board, including 44 unaccompanied juveniles, five accompanied juveniles; five juveniles among suspected organizers; 44 children in provincial care; all others detained; exclusion orders (first step to deportation) issued for 57; 74 refugee claims.
Ship 3: Spotted Aug. 31 off northwest coast of Vancouver island; 190 on board, including 26 women, 29 teens; 129 refugee claims; 34 exclusion orders; all detained except 26 in provincial care.
Ship 4: Spotted Sept. 8 off coast; 146 on board, including 14 juveniles; 125 refugee claims; seven exclusion orders; up to 30 suspected crew members; all detained but children expected to be transferred to provincial care.
In addition to the four known ships, two sunken vessels suspected to have brought migrants have also been discovered. © The Canadian Press, 1999
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