OP/ED: Turn that boat around
By Rob Leggett
Right now, the Tamil people-smugglers are assessing Canada and, the more friendly they discover our shores for their human payload, the more ships bursting with Sri Lankans they will be able to send. It is an outcome that, under current laws, Canada is powerless to avoid. The only alternative is to modify the existing system.
Clearly, laws need to be examined and tightened, or we just invite human smugglers to set sail for our welcoming shores and, as it stands at this moment, there are, supposedly, two more Tamil ships waiting to see how Canada will respond to this current situation. The most chilling aspect of this whole scenario is the allegation that, on board this ship, hidden amongst the civilian passengers, is a considerable number of passengers linked to the Tamil Tigers (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE). The Tigers are listed as a terrorist organization by 32 countries, including Canada, and there is a very real fear that the Tigers are utilizing human-smuggling ships as a piece of broader efforts to establish this country as a base to reconstruct their organization. As well as operating an apparently complicated crime ring, which consists of running weapons and drugs, sea piracy and human trafficking, the Tigers have relied on Tamil refugees to raise the reported $300 millionUS a year, with an estimated $12-million from Canada. But the difficulty facing Canadian authorities now is how to separate the non-terrorist from the terrorist elements that may be waiting on board. The Canadian Tamil Congress is advising the government to deal with each person as an individual refuge-seeker rather than paint them all as terrorists. But the situation will be difficult because of the Tigers’ skill in counterfeit identity papers and the ship itself has been identified as part of the Tamil Tiger fleet. That fleet has dispersed and it is thought to have been camouflaged under different names and the flags of various countries after the Tigers were defeated. Although Canada’s description of the word ‘refugee’ is particularly broad, refugee status is for anyone with a “well-founded” fear of being persecuted for their race, religion, politics, nationality, or membership in an identifiable group, but Sri Lankan Tamils do not meet that description. There are no reports of persecution of the Tamil community in general and a UN report describes the greatly-improved security in Sri Lanka and made clear that Tamils should not be thought to be in need of sanctuary. These people are not refugees in need of asylum and are taking away valuable resources from legitimate refugee claimants who have gone through the appropriate channels of the immigration process. It is setting a dangerous precedent by allowing line-jumpers in, especially when they do not even have a legitimate fear for their safety. Public irritation is understandable, including among ethnic communities playing by established rules to expedite refugee claims through legal channels. In my opinion, the boat should have been met by Canadian ships and told to leave Canadian waters. I htink it’s time Canada sent a clear message to those trying to fast-track their immigration, and especially to human smugglers and terrorists… You are not welcome here!
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