Two ships carrying 568 ethnic Tamil asylum seekers from Sri Lanka that docked Vancouver in August has stimulated the Federal Government of Canada to try to crack down on incidences of human smuggling with the introduction of Bill C-49, Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act.
“Our government is taking action to prevent the abuse of Canada's immigration system by human smugglers,” said MP for Westlock-St. Paul Brian Storseth in a press release. “The legislation introduced will send a clear message: Canada opens its doors to those who work hard and play by the rules while cracking down on those who seek to take advantage of our generosity and abuse our fair and welcoming immigration system.”
The bill targets those assisting in shipping foreign nationals, or human smugglers, with fines of up to $75,000 and one year in jail. According to Storseth, the bill will also penalize those trying to jump ahead of the immigration cue by “ensuring mandatory detention of illegal immigrants for up to one year to allow for the determination of identity, inadmissibility and illegal activity.”
Storseth clarified that the legislation is not intended to block or discourage legitimate refugee claims. “Canadians are known around the world for being a generous and open society. Each year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants from around the world come to Canada in search of opportunity and a better life. These are people who work hard and play by the rules.”
According to Rob Fox, Liberal candidate for Westlock-St. Paul, the proposed legislation risks penalizing legitimate refugees, a view supported by Amnesty International.
“This particular bill only targets people that arrive on mass,” said Gloria Nafziger, refugee coordinator for Amnesty International. “The problem is that it allows for the immediate and arbitrary detention of somebody for a year without review … (which is) contrary to the Canadian Charter and violates the Refugee Convention.”
Nafziger said that currently if individuals arrive in Canada and can not prove who they are, they are detained but that detention is reviewed monthly and “that is the way it should be. Once you have provided documentation that proves who you are, then you can be released from detention.”
She said it seems like the Canadian government is trying to send the message that asylum seekers should stay away.
Fox said that the government is fear mongering by using the example of the two ships that arrived in BC, because there is no evidence the ship’s passengers are not legitimate refugees.
“To date, none of the refugees have been found to be classified as terrorists,” said Fox. “Canada must work with other countries in troubled areas of the world so that refugees wouldn't feel the need to risk their lives and spend all their savings to come.”
But Storseth felt the legislation will help prevent the abuse of Canada’s immigration system by human smugglers, while continuing to offer protection to what he called the world’s most vulnerable.
“We know that there are more ships out there that have the capability of bringing thousands of more people to our shores illegally,” said Storseth. “While adhering to our human rights obligations as a government, we have to take some serious steps … to make Canada less of an easy target.”
