Also see:
Day 1: Asian boat lands Illegally
Day 3 coverage: "It's not the Canadian Way"
Day 5: July 27, 1999
Day 6: July 28, 1999
THE CHINESE ILLEGALS -- ACTION ALERT, July 30, 1999
Second Boat load of Illegials Hits British Columbia! [Aug 12 '99]
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CANADA FIRST IMMIGRATION REFORM COMMITTEE
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P.O. Box 332, Stn. "B" http://www.canadafirst.net
Etobicoke, Ontario M9W 5L3 cfirc@canadafirst.net
Tel: (905) 897-7221
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CFIRC BREAKING NEWS!
DAY 2 - THE LIES CONTINUE
(Don't forget to see Day 1 coverage on CFIRC)
YESTERDAY:
"Observers who got close to the ship saw the passengers smoking
cigarettes, chatting and snacking on chips, tossing the bags into the
ocean."
(Vancouver Province, July 21, 1999)
TODAY:
"Human waste was evident on the deck and in the hold and buckets were
overflowing."
(Globe and Mail, July 22, 1999)
CONCLUSION: LUCKY NO ONE GOT SICK!
YESTERDAY:
"Observers who got close to the ship saw the passengers .... They were
well dressed and looked healthy."
(Vancouver Province, July 21, 1999)
TODAY:
"Immigration officials who boarded the ship early yesterday morning
encountered passengers whose clothes were in tatters and whose shoes
were falling apart."
(Globe and Mail, July 22, 1999)
CONCLUSION: THE MEDIA JUST CAN NOT TELL THE TRUTH ON IMMIGRATION MATTERS
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
GET INVOLVED NOW! SIGN OUR PETITION
AGAINST THESE TYPES OF IMMIGRATION ABUSES
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
AS PREDICTED, TODAY ALL THE EMPHASIS IS ON THE "OFFAL" CONDITIONS ON THE
VESSEL -- WITH NARY A PEEP ABOUT THAT COAST-GUARD DODGING STATE OF THE
ART RADAR SET UP THE CHINESE BOAT HAD:
CBC NEWSWORLD ONLINE
Intercepted immigrants in custody in B.C.
WebPosted Thu Jul 22 08:33:59 1999
ESQUIMALT, B.C. - After 39 days aboard a stinking ship a group of
illegal immigrants caught Tuesday off Vancouver Island are being held in
a gymnasium on a Canadian Forces Base, awaiting interviews from
immigration authorities.
On Tuesday, a boat jammed with 122 Chinese trying to sneak into Canada
was found off the coast of Nootka Sound, about 300 kilometres northwest
of Victoria.
Canadian authorities say they have identified 11 passengers they believe
may be behind one of the biggest human smuggling operations ever
discovered off the West Coast.
"We're keeping them as separate from the others as possible," said Jim
Redmond, a spokesman for the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.
The rest of the 104 men and 18 women who were found in the hold of the
36-metre fishing vessel are being held at Canadian Forces Base
Esquimalt, just outside Victoria.
Cots have been moved into the gymnasium and clothing and showers were
provided. The weary travellers clapped and waved as they were led away
on the base.
Language problems are hampering efforts of investigators to question the
passengers. But NONE OF THEM APPEAR TO HAVE PASSPORTS OR OTHER
IDENTIFICATION. Officials say it is an old trick for people trying to
enter the country illegally. The lack of documentation makes it very
difficult to deport them.
Catherine Sas, an immigration lawyer in Vancouver says the Chinese
authorities typically do not accept people without identity documents.
"And so that puts us in the very difficult position, in a catch 22
situation -- they can't get status in Canada, but Canada can't
effectively remove them," she says.
So far Canadian officials say they do not know who organized this
smuggling operation, but it has all the hallmarks of organized crime.
And little by little, some of the details are emerging.
"The ship left ... from Fuzhou (China)," said George Varnai, regional
director for the department of Citizenship and Immigration. "Our current
assumption is they were trying to unload somewhere on the coast."
One of the passengers has indicated he paid $38,000 U.S. for his
passage.
Those kinds of fees have made the smuggling of human cargo a huge
international business, with smugglers leaving many countries trying to
get paying passengers into Vancouver, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles and
other North American cities.
A similar ship was found deserted and sinking, off the Queen Charlotte
Islands three weeks ago. Immigration officials admit they're
investigating the possibility that boat may have carried illegal
migrants.
More than a decade ago, two similar shiploads of people were found on
Canada's East Coast:
In August 1986, more than 150 Tamils were found in two life-boats off
Newfoundland. They claimed refugee status, and many settled in Montreal
and Toronto. In 1987, 174 people, most of them Indian Sikhs, waded
ashore in a small community in Nova Scotia. Many of them went to
Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
The Chinese also have the right to claim refugee status. More will be
known after they meet with immigration officials. If the Chinese do
apply for status, Redmond says it could take up to two years for their
appeals to go through the board.
<end>
IT COSTS $50,000 A YEAR TO KEEP A "REFUGEE"
LET'S SEE, $50,000 X 122 "REFUGEES" ...
A CLEAR *6 MILLION!* DOLLAR SWINDLE
Tho it can take up to two years, so lets assume 12 million.
_______________________________________________________________________
IF "Chinese authorities typically do not accept people without identity
documents" -- NEITHER SHOULD CANADA. WILL THE U.N. SPANK US IF WE PUT
OUR FOOT DOWN AND TELL CHINA (AND COUNTRIES WE MUST CURRENTLY BRIBE TO
TAKE BACK THEIR DEPORTED NATIONALS) THAT WE WILL N-O-T ACCEPT A-N-Y OF
THEIR NATIONALS UNTIL THEY RECTIFY SELF SERVING POLICIES?
AND YET, AS THE FOLLOWING STORY SHOWS, CHINA APPEARS TO BE WILLING TO
ACCEPT THEM BACK -- BUT ONLY IF CITIZENSHIP CAN BE ESTABLISHED. HEY,
THEY'RE NOT SPEAKING POLISH.
______________________________________________________________________
Vancouver Sun
Last Updated: Thursday 22 July 1999
TOP STORIES
Detained aliens investigated
China says it will allow the 122 to return if
citizenship can be established.
Chad Skelton and Petti Fong Vancouver Sun
ESQUIMALT -- As immigration officials begin processing today the 122
illegal aliens who arrived Tuesday in Nootka Sound, the Chinese
consulate in Vancouver said China will take them back if they are found
to be Chinese citizens.
Consul Jiang Jing Yuan, who is in charge of governmental relations for
the consulate, said Wednesday the ship's occupants would face only minor
charges should they be deported to China.
"We will not punish them," said Jiang. "We want to educate people and
encourage them to not be victims of illegal human smuggling."
Jiang said the Chinese government is actively pursuing "snakeheads" --
the smugglers who charge people thousands of dollars to sneak them into
Canada and other countries around the world.
"These people have brought an insecurity factor into Chinese society,"
said Jiang. "But the other people, they are victims of these
snakeheads."
None of the aliens who arrived Tuesday in the filthy cargo hold of a
fishing ship have documentation, but are believed to be from
southeastern Chinese province of Fujian.
Officials at the naval base here believe the aliens -- none of whom has
yet claimed refugee status -- spent 39 days aboard the ship.
"We have not been able to find any documents whatsoever," said Jim
Redmond, Vancouver Island manager for Immigration Canada.
Police have identified what they believe are the 11 "ringleaders" of the
suspected smuggling operation.
"We're keeping them as separate from the others as possible," Redmond
said -- noting they had been restrained with plastic braces. Redmond
said immigration and police believe organized crime is involved in the
human smuggling operation.
RCMP spokesman Constable Grant Learned refused to say if any of the
aliens had identified the suspects, but conceded that the ringleaders
"did not come forward" on their own.
Immigration officials believe they have identified the captain of the
vessel -- who Redmond said told them Canada was his intended
destination.
How the operation was organized has yet to be determined. But Redmond
said one of the aliens told an immigration official through an
interpreter that she paid $38,000 (US) for the journey. With 122 people
on board, the voyage could have netted the smugglers millions of
dollars.
The ship used to transport the migrants has no identifiable markings, no
flag of origin and no nameplate inside.
Most of the aliens speak a Chinese dialect native to the city of Fuzhou.
Alice Young, a Chinese translator at Vancouver International Airport,
said Mandarin speakers are generally agricultural workers in China.
"[But] if they speak Fuzhou, it usually means they are from the city and
have lived there for many years," Young explained.
Young said the city of Fuzhou is economically prosperous by Chinese
standards, but that has not stemmed the tide of refugees to Canada.
A Canada Customs official told The Vancouver Sun that three Chinese
people arrived at the airport on Wednesday claiming refugee status. They
are believed to be from Fuzhou.
Jiang said the Canadian government can verify whether the 122 illegal
aliens being held in Esquimalt are from China if they are able to get
identification numbers. He explained that every person in China is
issued an identification number by the government's security bureau.
The illegal migrants will be held by Immigration Canada while their
status is determined. However, they are entitled to have their detention
reviewed by an Immigration Refugee Board adjudicator within 48 hours of
their arrest.
George Varnai, regional immigration manager for B.C. and the Yukon, said
adjudicators will likely be brought into the detention facility for the
hearings, or will speak with the migrants by phone this week.
Under the Act, a refugee claimant can only be detained if they pose a
risk to society, or if there is a reason to believe they won't appear at
their scheduled hearing. Refugee determinations can take up to two
years, during which time the claimant can apply for social assistance
and health care.
"It makes no difference how they landed in Canada," said Redmond. "They
will still receive the due process."
But as of Wednesday afternoon, none of the 122 migrants had made a
refugee claim.
There hasn't been much opportunity for anyone to file a claim.
It took several hours to tow the mystery ship to Gold River Tuesday
night, where the migrants finally disembarked at about 2:20 a.m.
Wednesday.
They arrived at the Esquimalt naval base in three yellow school buses at
about 10 a.m. Wednesday. They waited in the buses until mid-afternoon --
escorted in pairs for washroom breaks -- before being led in small
groupsinto the Work Point barracks gymnasium.
The gym has been transformed into a detention and processing facility.
Weights and exercise equipment were replaced with portable X-ray
machines, medical equipment, folding cots, tables and chairs.
Armed forces staff erected a fence to enclose the gym grounds. And while
the barbed wire atop the old rusted fence tilted out -- to keep people
out -- the new barbed addition to the fence tilts in.
Soldiers also cleared brush from around the facility and erected a
series of street lamps to illuminate the gym yard. Base commander Randy
Maze said the renovations provide "clear site lines" for the dozens of
RCMP and military police officers guarding the facility.
Redmond said the aliens are in good spirits. "They're calm. They're not
expressing any anger," he said. "They're polite to the officers. If they
receive something from the officers, they're saying thank-you."
Immigration officials plan to fingerprint the migrants and work with
RCMP and immigration offices in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to determine
who they are.
Dr. Hans Jung, senior medical officer for the navy on the West Coast,
said only two of the migrants required medical attention for minor
dehydration and hunger. "We're aware they have body lice, scabies ... A
good, clean shower and a hot meal will make them feel enormously
better," Jung said. <end>
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Vancouver Province
Last Updated: Thursday 22 July 1999
Local News
These people breaking law, China says
Keith Fraser, Staff Reporter The Province
The Chinese government tries to discourage its citizens from paying
large sums of money to be smuggled across the Pacific Ocean, a Chinese
government source said yesterday.
"We don't encourage such type of actions, human illegal smuggling. Our
law strongly prohibits such actions."
The source said many of the people being smuggled are farmers and are
fooled by the smugglers into believing there's a better life for them in
Canada or the United States.
"Now is not a very good time for immigrants, not only from China but
from other parts of the world," he said. "Competition is very fierce"
for jobs.
Some end up in menial jobs and others in virtual slavery to pay off a
debt to the smugglers, he said.
If the 122 Chinese immigrants being detained on Vancouver Island apply
for legal aid in order to get help in filing refugee claims, it's not
clear if that would dramatically impact the cash-strapped Legal Services
Society.
Legal-aid spokeswoman Sandy Shreve said the society has faced large
"multiple-client" cases before but wouldn't discuss specifics.
IN THE YEAR 1998-99, THERE WERE
3,392 APPLICATIONS FOR LEGAL AID
ON IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE MATTERS,
UP FROM 1997-98, WHEN THERE WERE
2,950. <end>
WHAT? NONE OF THEM HAVE (-YET-) FILED A REFUGEE CLAIM?
OH, BY ALL MEANS, LET THE IMMIGRATION LAWYERS AT 'EM.
REMEMBER THE KOSOVARS? NONE OF THEM WERE GOING TO STAY EITHER.
OF B.C.'S 900 KOSOVAR REFUGEES,
JUST -T-W-O- HAVE EXPRESSED AN INTEREST IN RETURNING.
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WHAT -- PRECISELY -- IS THE PROBLEM HERE? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THERE
REALLY ARE PEOPLE ON EARTH THAT IMAGINE YOU C A N N O T GET INTO
CANADA WITH A WING AND A TEAR? WHO HAS TO "BUY THEIR WAY IN"?
BY THE WAY -- GUM SAN -- OR "GOLD MOUNTAIN" IS THE CHINESE NAME FOR A
NORTH AMERICA PAVED WITH INCREDIBLE RICHES. INTERESTING THAT THIS LOT
WAS UNLOADED AT GOLD RIVER.
DELAYS IN UNLOADING THEM WERE "complicated by the lack of bio-hazard
suits available to officers until late Tuesday night."
(National Post, July 22, 1999)
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IN THE WAKE OF THE COX REPORT (DETAILING DECADES OF RED CHINESE
PILFERING OF AMERICAN NUCLEAR SECRETS)-- "U.S. COMPANIES ARE REFUSING TO
SHARE IMPORTANT INFORMATION WITH CANADIAN DEFENCE CONRACTORS THAT EMPLOY
NON-CANADIANS OR EVEN THOSE WITH DUAL CITIZENSHIP"
(Globe and Mail, June 25, 1999)
TYPICALLY, CANADA RESPONDED BY FRETTING OVER PEOPLE'S "RIGHTS".
IMAGINE HOW DELIGHTED OUR BIGGEST TRADING PARTNER (AND ALLY) WILL BE TO
LEARN THAT ...
Half of Chinese refugees abandon claims, go to U.S.
Adrienne Tanner
National Post (July 22, 1999)
Chinese refugee claimants, the second largest group of asylum seekers in
Canada, are more likely to abandon their claims than those from any
other country in the world.
For the past two years, half of the refugee claims from China were
abandoned before they went to Immigration and Refugee Board hearings,
suggesting that Canada is merely a temporary stop-off for many migrants
headed to the United States.
"There's the perception that the United States is still the land of milk
and honey," says Catherine Sas, a Vancouver immigration lawyer.
"That Canada is a nice place, but if you really want to become super
wealthy, you've got to go to the U.S."
Of the 1,494 Chinese refugee claims settled by the board during the last
fiscal year, 750 were abandoned when claimants failed to show up for
their hearings. The story was the same the year before, when 479 of the
968 Chinese refugee claims were abandoned.
Law enforcement, immigration and legal experts say many Chinese migrants
file refugee claims in Canada simply to buy time until they can find a
way south.
They fly in by plane or stowaway on cargo ships, often smuggled in by
professional people, traffickers or "snakeheads" who charge as much as
$70,000 for entry to the West.
"Within the past few months, we have had three documented cases where
people have come to the U.S. on cargo container ships," said Carey
James, the U.S. Border Patrol's chief agent for western Washington.
The journey often begins in the port cities of Fujian where it is easy
to hook up with smuggling rings, says Yael Fuchs, the Washington
co-ordinator of the Laogai Research Foundation, an American-based human
rights organization focusing on China.
Typically, the migrants land in Western Canada and then head straight to
New York and other cities along the Eastern seaboard, said Sergeant Bill
MacDonald, of the RCMP immigration branch in Ottawa.
Police have had some success intercepting illegal migrants at the
border, but fear that for every one caught, dozens more get through.
The biggest concern is that these people are queue jumpers, Sgt.
MacDonald said.
"They haven't gone the proper route to get into Canada legally. So, we
don't know who they are. They haven't been screened medically or
criminally."
Just before Christmas, nine people were charged with helping smuggle
hundreds of Chinese immigrants over the American border at the St.
Lawrence River near Cornwall, Ont.
Then, in February, four women were caught trying to cross the
Lewiston/Queenston bridge over the Niagara River by clinging to a piece
of plywood on the undercarriage of a truck. Two were near death from
carbon monoxide fumes when they were found. <end>
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
AND FINALLY --
GATECRASHERS ARE NOT WELCOME
National Post editorial -- Thursday, July 22, 1999
One hundred and eight men and 14 women were caught trying to enter
Canada on Tuesday. Under the watchful eye of police, immigration
officials and a gaggle of reporters, an unmarked, unflagged, unsanitary
freighter disgorged its human cargo onto Vancouver Island, after
spending a full day anchored just offshore. Many of the smuggled
arrivals, thought to be from China, were smiling and waving; others were
too exhausted to do much of anything. For now, all 122 are being
detained in a guarded gymnasium while their immigration status is being
examined, and the weariest receive medical care.
This isn't the first time bedraggled foreign nationals have washed up on
our shores. In 1987, 178 South Asians sneaked into Canada on another
freighter; a year earlier, 152 Tamils landed at Newfoundland, in
dinghies. In both cases, these sea-sick guests received refugee status,
even though it was discovered they had actually arrived not from any
war-torn homeland but from Europe, where Canada's generous welfare was
not available.
These latest arrivals certainly won't be the last tranche, either. The
International Organization for Migration estimates that four million
immigrants are "trafficked" every year, feeding a $10-billion black
market. Canada's unguarded shores, and easy access to the U.S., makes us
an obvious port of call.
At this point, little is known about these latest stowaways. It is
thought they might have paid up to $40,000 to be smuggled to our shores
-- a staggering fee, paid off through years of indentured servitude
often including prostitution. While fascinating, the particular details
are largely irrelevant when determining what Canada's policy on
gatecrashers should be.
To accept these arrivals without question would send three powerful
messages. First, it would condone and reward illegal people-smuggling.
Second, it would send a message to would-be immigrants that our rules
and processes for immigration are meaningless. It would confirm that a
quicker and more certain way to live in Canada is to deliberately avoid
the legal process and attempt to sneak in. Finally, and, most
importantly, it would admit that our borders are unguarded, and that the
hospitality of our citizens -- through welfare and other social programs
-- can be commanded, not earned. Such an abdication of sovereignty will
only serve to raise public enmity against legitimate, lawful immigrants.
Canada should welcome immigrants. Immigration has been the foundation of
our progress as a nation. But there is an important moral difference
between law-abiding immigrants and scofflaws that cannot be ignored.
If it is proven that these stowaways' first act in Canadian territory
was to attempt an illegal entry by avoiding Canadian customs and
immigration law, then there is little reason to let them stay. To do
otherwise is to punish those who land in Canada and apply lawfully.
<end>
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SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE.
OVER 200 YEARS AGO, ANOTHER VISITOR TO THE NOOTKA SOUND OBSERVED A
CHARACTER FLAW THAT CANADA HAS MANAGED TO QUIETLY ENSHRINE IN THE
NATIONAL CHARACTER. OUR 50% TAXATION RATE SUBSIDIZES THOSE WHO TAKE
ADVANTAGE WHILE WE ARE STILL INCAPABLE OF PRESENTING A UNITED RESISTANCE
TO SYSTEMATIC EXPLOITATION OF OUR WEAKNESS)
"Those who lived in the Sound were not united in the same cause;
for the weaker were frequently obliged to give way to the stronger
party, and plundered of every thing, without attempting to make
the least resistance."
(Captain James Cook - April 1778)
GET INVOLVED NOW! SIGN OUR PETITION
AGAINST THESE TYPES OF IMMIGRATION ABUSES
http://www.canadafirst.net/scoc-petition
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CANADA FIRST IMMIGRATION REFORM COMMITTEE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
P.O. Box 332, Stn. "B" http://www.canadafirst.net
Etobicoke, Ontario M9W 5L3 cfirc@canadafirst.net
Tel: (905) 897-7221
-----------------------------------------------------------------------