Canada to curb illegal migrants before they depart for Canada

OTTAWA - Canada is vowing to curb illegal immigration by stopping asylum seekers before they set to sail for the country, as border officials in British Columbia scramble to process 490 suspected Tamil migrants who arrived aboard a boat ‘MV Sun Sea’.

“Canadian intelligence should identify these ships before they leave their ports of origin, that, I believe, should be the real focus, rather than trying to deal with them after the fact,” The Globe and Mail News quoted Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, as saying.

On Friday, hours after the Thai-registered Sun Sea entered Canada, Toews said that officials in the country suspect the vessel to be part of a human-smuggling operation run by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Toews, who contends other human smugglers are watching Canada’s response closely, said, “The evidence … suggests that it is the work of the Tamil Tigers, or LTTE.”

The LTTE, known as the Tamil Tigers, is a banned terrorist organization and separatist group that lost a 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009.

Meanwhile, Canada has been criticized for concluding that the boat included members of the LTTE.

” Let’s not jump to conclusions without facts. Until we assess each of the refugee claimant’s individual situation under Canadian law, we don’t know whether they are genuine refugees or not. And if they are, their file should be done quickly and accepted so they can stay here. If not, they should be deported,” New Democratic Party (NDP) immigration critic Olivia Chow, said earlier. (ANI)