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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!
AUGUST 13, 1999 - DAY 2
IT'S FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH AND THERE'S ANOTHER ONE ON THE WAY
(don't miss Diane Francis' masterful summation - at end)
_______________________________________________________________________
SPONTANEOUS PROTESTS AS LATEST BATCH TAKES
POSSESSION OF CANADIAN SOIL AT PORT HARDY
"Hundreds of curious residents crowded the beach here Thursday ... To
cheers from the crowd, a local man stood on a shoreline rock and played
a shaky version of O Canada on his trumpet as the migrants were led from
the ship.
Four to six people protesting the migrants' arrival waved signs with
sayings such as "Feed Canadians First" at the migrants as they left the
vessel.
"We don't not welcome people to our country," said Lorna White, from
Port Hardy, who carried one of the signs. "But we would appreciate if
they came legally."
Her mother was more blunt: "They're Chinese and we have enough of them
in our country," said Sarah Lysne.
Port Hardy resident Charity Edald said the community is divided into
three groups. "There are the sympathetic, which is really small, the
interested, which is everyone, and those who are very angry about it,"
she said. "I'm in the interested sympathetic group. I think they've gone
through enough."
Her friend Jason Robinson said while he understands wanting to leave a
poor country for a richer one, he thinks a large number of Canadians
will be worse off if the migrants are accepted in.
"Some of these people will go straight to welfare and take jobs from
people who have lived here all their lives," he said."
(Excerpt - Vancouver Sun, Friday August 13, 1999)
_____________________________________________________________________
"Jinfeng has a "widows' village" where it is said all the
men have left for America"
GEE, WHEN THE SAME THING HAPPENED SIXTY YEARS AGO, IT WAS OUR "FAULT"
_____________________________________________________________________
How we have become a favourite for 'snakeheads'
Poor Chinese villages depend on money sent back by migrants
David Rennie
The Daily Telegraph
BEIJING - The arrival of 130 illegal Chinese immigrants on a deserted,
rocky beach in the Queen Charlotte Islands has raised fears that Canada
is now a prime target for gangs of people smugglers, known as
"snakeheads."
The Chinese gangs charge up to $70,000 to smuggle people to the West,
where accomplices arrange jobs in restaurants, brothels and sweatshops.
Most fly to the West with false or stolen papers. Others risk drowning,
starvation and pirates by sailing to Sydney or Tokyo.
The United States immigration service has reported ''a surge of
unprecedented magnitude'' in illegal arrivals on the Pacific island of
Guam, which smugglers portray as a gateway to mainland America. So many
were intercepted this year that authorities have turned a Second World
War airfield into a detention camp on the nearby Mariana islands.
Boatloads more turned up in Australia, lured by false promises of jobs
at the Sydney Olympic Games, or a millennium amnesty for illegal
immigrants. New Zealand recently rushed a bill through parliament
allowing for the indefinite detention of illegal immigrants.
China has now launched a crackdown on the snakeheads. But in the coastal
villages of southeastern China's Fujian province, a building boom is
testament to the thousands more who successfully escape to the West.
Huge new houses, churches and temples have been built with money sent
back from overseas, their show-off turrets or Chinese pagoda roofs
towering above the brick huts of the less fortunate. Farmland is
shrinking as crops are replaced by yet more mansions. Few new businesses
are created by the remittance money, and drug use is on the rise.
Jinfeng, near the provincial capital, Fuzhou, has a "widows' village"
where it is said all the men have left for America. In nearby Houyu,
four-fifths of the population have left in the past decade.
In Yangyu village, Mr. Lin, the father of a waitress working illegally
in London, told how his son was beaten to death by paramilitary police
three years ago en route to Japan by boat. But the old man proudly
showed off Yangyu's mariners' temple, newly restored in thanks for
keeping emigrants safe on the high seas. Inside, an honour board records
donations, all in U.S. dollars and all from illegal migrants to America.
One of the few young men to be seen in Houyu had already been caught
once, as he tried to fly to America via Hong Kong. The trip cost
$70,000, he said. Only another attempt could clear his debts. "I'm just
waiting for my second chance," said the 30-year-old.
(National Post, Friday August 13, 1999)
____________________________________________________________________
The NDP immigration critic, Pat Martin, said: "a hundred more refugees
does not mean the sky is falling." (National Post, Friday August 13,
1999)
___________________________________________________________________
AGEING SPOTTER PLANE REAL HERO OF THE DAY
"Not one hour was devoted to surveilling
fishing vessels in B.C. waters"
HOW MANY ILLEGALS SNEAK IN
WHILE LIMITED CANADIAN ARMED FORCES RESOURCES SERVE
NATO-SPONSORED COUP D'ETATS?
"Canada's Auroras -- five based at 407 Squadron in Comox and 13 at 415
Squadron at Greenwood, N.S., -- spend much of their flying time checking
commercial shipping off Canada's coasts. ... From an altitude as high as
seven kilometres, an Aurora can track every ship within a circle of
ocean 240 kilometres in diameter.
... By far the majority of such work for other agencies is spent on
fisheries patrol. Last year, 1,000 of the 14,000 hours the department of
defence allocated nationally for the Aurora program were dedicated to
fisheries enforcement.
... Not one hour was devoted to surveilling fishing vessels in B.C.
waters.
... It was the fresh-faced 38-year-old navigator-communicator aboard
this Canadian Forces Aurora patrol aircraft who persuaded the Korean
driftnet vessel Hueg Ryong Pusan No. 705 to abandon its dash for
freedom, even though it had already reached international waters."
(Excerpt - Vancouver Sun, Friday August 13, 1999)
________________________________________________________________________
ACCORDING TO THE STORY BELOW, THE UN CONVENTION ON REFUGEES AS
INTERPRETED BY THE IMMIGRATION ACT, GIVES US "no authority outside
Canadian waters. Once inside, would-be refugees have to be given a fair
hearing according to the UN convention."
BUT WE HAVE JUST SEEN (IN THE PREVIOUS STORY) THAT CANADA MADE THE
SMUGGLING SHIP TURN BACK -AFTER- IT HAD REACHED INTERNATIONAL WATERS.
CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS OTTAWA.
_________________________________________________________________________
THE ONLY THING STOPPING US IS WILL AT THE TOP
Nothing stops Canada from intercepting, sending home
Helen Plischke, Staff Reporter The Province
Nothing in Canada's domestic law prevents the country from intercepting
boatloads of illegal immigrants in foreign waters and returning them to
their countries, say immigration lawyers.
Canada has traditionally taken a softer approach to would-be refugee
claimants than countries such as the U.S., which regularly intercepts
"refugee" ships in international waters.
The U.S. is bound by the same international law as Canada -- the United
Nations Convention on Refugees. The difference is in the way Canada and
the U.S. interpret the convention, says Vancouver refugee and
immigration lawyer Phil Rankin.
"Many people who comment on international law say the United States, in
fact, has violated the convention," he said.
The convention binds nations to providing asylum to those in danger of
persecution on the basis of race, religion, social group, nationality or
political opinion. Unlike Canada, the U.S. believes it legally can meet
ships at sea, Rankin says: "The United States takes the position if they
are outside the 200-mile limit, they can interdict and . . . by stopping
them from landing, they are not violating the convention."
There's also the question of which Canadian department would perform
interdictions, the most likely being the military, foreign affairs and
the coast guard.
George Varnai, regional director for Immigration Canada, says the
Immigration Act gives his department no authority outside Canadian
waters. Once inside, would-be refugees have to be given a fair hearing
according to the UN convention.
"Our only authority as immigration officers is the Immigration Act and it
certainly gives us no jurisdiction outside of Canada's territory."
But Vancouver immigration lawyer Bediako Buahene says Canada doesn't
perform interdictions because it doesn't have enough resources, either
coast guard or RCMP.
The U.S. also detains most refugee claimants longer than Canada, some
until their hearings, which could be as long as two years, Buahene says.
It hasn't succeeded as a deterrent.
"Other countries are already detaining heavily, and it's not as if the
number of people trying to get into those countries has actually slowed
down," said Buahene.
The cost of detaining refugees in this country would be a great
strain, Rankin says.
"They are releasing people and they have the power to detain them.
"What they don't have are the resources to detain them."
John Reynolds, Reform MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast, says his
office received 25 phone calls yesterday morning from people who
believe the migrants should be sent back.
"People believe that these are not legitimate refugees. I don't
believe they are either," Reynolds said.
He pointed to the number, reported to be as high as 70 per cent, of
refugees who abandon their claims once in Canada.
"That should tell us they don't want to claim refugee status. They're
afraid they won't be accepted, so they either go to the States or
somewhere in Canada and blend into the system somewhere."
(Vancouver Province, Friday 13 August 1999)
______________________________________________________________________
"Varnai denied that officials had prior warning about this ship, or the
one that arrived three weeks ago.
He also said he knows of no other ships coming."
(Vancouver Province, Friday 13 August 1999)
______________________________________________________________________
THIRD BOAT STEAMING OUR WAY
CBC NEWSWORLD
WebPosted Fri Aug 13 08:55:38 1999
Third smuggling ship may be en route from China
PORT HARDY, B.C. - With word that yet another smuggling ship is headed
for the B.C. coast, a Chinese diplomat blames Canada's lax laws for
encouraging illegal immigrants.
Ping Huan, the consul general at the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, says he
was surprised when Immigration Canada released some of the people who
arrived in boats off the B.C. coast last month. Word of their freedom
quickly travels back to China, he said.
Accompanied by RCMP and immigration officers, the illegal immigrants
plucked off a beach on the Queen Charlotte Islands arrived Friday at CFB
Esquimalt -- the Vancouver Island military base where the earlier group
of smuggled refugee claimants stayed.
The base is their home while officials identify them and discover why
they were being smuggled into Canada.
Meanwhile Friday, the Chinese newspaper Ming Pao reports that a third
ship is on its way from Fujian, the same Chinese province where the
first two illegal immigrant ships originated.
Ming Pao says the smuggling route passes through Japan and Guam on its
way to Canada. A Vancouver reporter for the paper said the ship could
arrive by September.
There was no official confirmation of the third ship on its way to the
B.C. coast.
As for the second ship, it held about 130 men, women and children -- and
one dog. They were dropped into the water Wednesday, and picked up
shortly after by military and immigration officials who'd been trailing
the smuggling ship.
The Korean ship which had carried the group tried to escape but was
caught by an RCMP boat. The eight crew members were taken into custody
and were to appear in court Friday to face charges under the Immigration
Act.
Police said Thursday they found four passengers who had run into the
woods after they were dropped off and had waded to shore. <end>
____________________________________________________________________
ONE LOAD FOR THE U.S. - WITH AIR CONDITIONING
U.S. officials find 132 Chinese stowaways on cargo ship in Savannah
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - U.S. immigration officials said 132 Chinese men
found hiding aboard a cargo ship docked in Savannah were living in
cramped quarters but had air-conditioning, electricity and sufficient
water.
The aliens, all males aged 18-25, were detained Thursday in what the
Immigration and Naturalization Service said was an attempt to smuggle an
unusually large number of people into the United States.
"This was a very sophisticated ring," said Tom Fischer, district
director for the INS in Atlanta.
"I have never in my 23 years with INS seen anything this large or
sophisticated."
Authorities said the Chinese were crammed into a 15-by-15 metre
compartment in the bow of the Prince Nicolas, a ship registered in
Cyprus. The maze-like holding area was divided into individual
compartments about 60 centimetres wide, one metre long and two metres
high, each with a hole connecting it to the next compartment.
The compartments, enough for each alien, had electric fans and were
littered with empty water bottles, soda cans, food wrappers and
clothing.
"This was built to carry human cargo," said Fred Alexander, deputy INS
director in Atlanta.
"This is a 20th-century version of a 17th-century slave ship."
The men were found aboard the ship that docked in Savannah on Wednesday
night. The ship's only other cargo was pig iron, Fischer said.
The ship's 28 crew members, including 26 from China, were taken into
custody for questioning, though no charges had been filed Thursday
night. The Chinese were being held Friday at a National Guard armory.
The Chinese were carrying large sums of U.S. money and probably paid
thousands of dollars to sail on the ship, Alexander said. He said the
smugglers could have earned a half-million dollars on the trip.
Officials were tipped off about the smugglers about two weeks ago when
the vessel's second officer jumped ship in Sweden and notified
authorities, said INS Special Agent Kevin Keefe.
Coast guard officials boarded the Prince Nicolas about 15 kilometres off
the coast Wednesday but found nothing. The ship docked that night at the
Ocean Terminal of the Georgia Ports Authority.
After receiving more detailed information, the coast guard reboarded the
ship Thursday, said Chief Petty Officer Scott Taylor, an investigator
with the Marine Safety Office. They found a hatch leading to the holding
tank that had been bolted from the inside and welded shut.
In addition to possible charges against the crew, authorities said they
may try to seize the ship, owned by Cosmomar Shipping Co. Ltd.
The Prince Nicolas had travelled from Denmark through the Baltic Sea,
across the Atlantic Ocean and to Savannah, Fischer said. Its next port
call was scheduled in Georgetown, S.C.
Any requests by the Chinese for political asylum will be considered on a
case-by-case basis, he said.
"It is a possibility," Fischer said.
"No one has yet...mentioned that or brought it up."
© The Canadian Press, 1999
________________________________________________________________________
Refugee process in this country needs makeover
Boat incidents an example of Ottawa's mismanagement
Diane Francis
National Post
Ottawa remains frozen at the switch even after I warned on July 25 in
this column that a second derelict ship with illegal aliens was on its
way. As we all know, it arrived this week.
Now I learn that a third ship is heading for North America. Worse than
that, dozens more stolen boats are being assembled in a staging ground
controlled by criminal organizations in Guam and Saipan now that Ottawa
has shown complete incompetence at handling the situation.
Triads, or Chinese ethnic gangs, are involved and are making fortunes
smuggling narcotics and people out of China, sources say.
"The U.S. Coast Guard has identified another ship, now in international
waters," says a source. "The boat is heading for the United States and
word is that the Coast Guard will force it away and into Canadian
waters." Elinor Caplan, Ottawa's new Immigration Minister, must move on
this immediately and invoke her authority to collect and deport all
those Chinese who have come here so far. She should also completely
revamp the so-called "refugee" process in this country, which is being
abused by illegals and their smuggling accomplices.
New Zealand and Australia passed emergency laws in the past few months
that allows them to turn away ships and their cargo. These countries
suffered from a recent surge in attempts to smuggle boat people from all
over the world.
The boat incidents are simply a small, but high-profile example of how
Ottawa has completely mismanaged the refugee process. Why do we let
scoundrels bring persons into our country to fraudulently claim refugee
status and let them get away with it?
Worse than the stupidity of our government is what Chinese government
officials call the unfortunate "pull facto." At a recent secret meeting
in the Fujian province with Chinese government officials, Canadian
immigration representatives were told that China wants this smuggling to
end because of what happens to the migrant victims, but cannot unless
Canada fixes its process.
Illegal aliens can ruin their lives because they make a Faustian pact
with some of the most evil persons in the world. The criminals smuggle
people for fees of $30,000 (US) -- money these people do not have. Like
loan sharks, these crooks lend this money and charge usurious interest
rates on this "loan." One way these poor people can work off this loan
is by getting involved in criminal activities.
In other words our refugee policy has resulted in the importation of a
criminal element that was not here and need not have arrived.
Doesn't anyone in Ottawa have a cortex and understand that the reason
why some Honduran "refugees" have become involved in drug trafficking in
Vancouver, and addictions are spreading like cancer, is that this is one
way they can work off their loans to the Colombian cocaine and heroin
cartels.
The toll in human terms of this naive and stupid policy is enormous.
I am the first to admit that Canada should do its bit to help refugees,
but only genuine ones.
People suffering in refugee camps qualify, not persons who enter our
country without documents then claim to be refugees.
Through sheer incompetence, Ottawa is ruining lives, exposing Canadians
to grave risks and financing the creation of a criminal class that will
hurt this country for years to come.
If these boatloads are not deported to send a message to others on their
way -- and the refugee process revamped -- then the government of Canada
should be sued by the provinces, municipalities, taxpayer organizations
and other victims of refugee crimes. I will personally contribute to
such a lawsuit.
(Diane Francis, National Post, Friday August 13, 1999)
_____________________________________________________________________
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CFIRC goes 3,000 miles to protest against Illegial Immigration in
British Columbia! Read the whole story and find out the truth about the
silent invasion going on in BC! .
http://www.canadafirst.net/news/victoria_protest/index.html
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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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