The Canadian government on Thursday unveiled legislation aimed at curbing illegal immigration and human smuggling by imposing stiff penalties and even detaining asylum seekers.
The arrival of two ships carrying illegal migrants over the past year “clearly demonstrates that human smuggling networks are targeting Canada as a destination and that they believe our generous immigration system can be exploited for profit,” said Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.
“We will not tolerate the abuse of our immigration system, either by human smugglers or by those who are unwilling to play by the rules,” he said.
The proposed amendments to Canada’s immigration act would impose mandatory prison sentences on convicted human smugglers and put smuggled people in mandatory detention for up to one year while their backgrounds are checked.
They would bar illegal immigrants from applying for permanent residency for five years and terminate refugee applications from people who return to their country of origin for vacation or otherwise show they do not need Canada’s protection.
The rules would also hold ship owners and operators to account for the use of their ships in human smuggling or other illegal immigration operations.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said this week his government was growing increasingly “concerned” about “mass arrivals through human smuggling.”
In many cases, asylum seekers such as the hundreds who have arrived in the past year on Canada’s Pacific coast aboard two rickety cargo ships, are seeking to “jump the queue and work around the system,” he said.
He warned these illegal arrivals risk undermining public support for Canada’s immigration and refugee programs, and was echoed on Thursday by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.
“In Canada we enjoy the highest level of public support for immigration and refugee protection of any developed country in the world. But we have seen a significant erosion of that support since the arrival of the last human smuggling vessel,” said Kenney.
“This unlawful behavior is nothing more than jumping the immigration queue, taking up space and resources in our immigration and refugee systems that should be focused on those who are legitimately and lawfully waiting their turn to come to Canada.”
Canada, which has a population of around 34 million, accepts an average of 250,000 legal immigrants each year.
Border officials detained 492 illegal Tamil immigrants from Sri Lanka who arrived in August aboard the MV Sun Sea, a leaky cargo vessel. Another 76 were arrested in October 2009 upon arrival aboard another battered freighter.
Canada and Sri Lanka allege that there may be members of the Tamil Tigers -- a group Canada considers a terrorist organization -- hiding among the migrants, ToI reports.
