Cargo Ship Carrying Tamil Migrants Docks In B.C.

The cargo ship carrying nearly 500 Sri Lankan Tamils seeking asylum in Canada arrived at a Canadian Forces base near Victoria, British Columbia Friday morning, sparking a heated debate concerning how they should be received.

The Canadian Navy intercepted the MV Sun Sea Thursday and escorted it to Vancouver Island where it docked at CFB Esquimalt around 9:30am.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews vowed the government will take swift action in dealing with some of the people on board because human smugglers, he said, are watching Canada’s response. He claims some of the 490 people that arrived on the ship are human smugglers and terrorists. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are included on the federal government’s list of terrorist organizations.

“Human smuggling, illegal migration or any other abuses of Canada’s immigration system can not and will not be tolerated,” he said in a statement issued early Friday.

He also described the ship’s arrival as an “unacceptable abuse of international law and Canadian generosity.”

“I think what this case demonstrates is a need to work, on an international basis, with our allies rather than viewing this as a problem that Canadians can solve on their own.”

He added that Canada needs “to look at our laws to see if they are sufficiently strong.”

The arrivals were being assessed to determine their identity and discern whether they had any serious health issues. Each migrant was to be fingerprinted and a criminal records check done — a process that could take two to three days.

The MV Sun Sea set out from Sri Lanka in April and had tried to enter Thailand and Australia, but was turned away. It then set out across the Pacific to British Columbia.

Lorne Waldman, a lawyer who represented some of the 76 Sri Lankan migrants that arrived by ship in B.C. last October, said several people on board the MV Sun Sea are ill and there are also young children on the vessel. People on the MV Sun Sea had contacted family members in Toronto, Waldman said.

“Apparently there are some people that are quite ill on the boat. And I gather the authorities are now aware of that and are making arrangements to meet them,” he said.

“I know that there’s already preparations for the children to be taken to a special sick tent.”

Detention hearings for the migrants are expected to start Monday.

Canada is a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees and is therefore required to process all claimants.

“I’m quite surprised at the size of the ship,” Gary Anandasangaree, a lawyer with the Canadian Tamil Congress, said as the ship approached the base.

“I was expecting it to be much larger given the number of people.”

“It clearly gives us an idea of the type of conditions that could have been inside. Very cramped, given the size.”

With files from the Canadian Press

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