Tamil boat likely headed for Canada

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Subject: Tamil boat likely headed for Canada
  OTTAWA —
Indonesian authorities have stopped a Tamil boat that likely was headed for Canada, Postmedia News has learned.

The MV Alicia was carrying 84 Sri Lankan asylum seekers when it was stopped Saturday night in Indonesian waters.

Although the migrants claim to want to enter New Zealand and on Tuesday were refusing to leave the MV Alicia while waving signs saying they wanted to be sent to the small, picturesque island nation, Canadian officials told Postmedia News that intelligence reports suggest the boat was actually en route to Canada.

"We don´t know that for sure, and we probably won´t know that until Indonesian officials start interviewing people one by one . . . but all evidence indicates they were headed here," an official said.

Authorities expect more Tamil boats will try to make the long and dangerous voyage in an attempt to reach Canada´s shores.

One official referred to the MV Alicia as the beginning of "boating season."

CSIS and the RCMP have been working in partnership with local law enforcement agencies in Southeast Asia to, in bureaucratic-speak, "push our borders out" and stop the boats from arriving before it is too late.

In 2009, the vessel Ocean Lady reached Canada, carrying dozens of Sri Lankan migrants to the West Coast.

Ten months after that, a second ship, the MV Sun Sea, made a similar voyage, carrying 492 Sri Lankans who had boarded in southern Thailand.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney have pointed to those vessels as proof that Canada is a target destination for human smugglers and the reason why new legislation is needed to curb what they say is Canada´s attractiveness for immigration queue-jumpers.

Toronto´s strong and connected Tamil diaspora is a huge draw for migrants, many of whom want to bring their family members to Canada and are willing to spend $40,000 they cannot afford on a trip to make their dreams a reality, officials said.

Canada is not the only country grappling with vessels filled with illegal migrants; hundreds of refugee boats have landed in Australia.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key warned Monday that Sri Lankans were not welcome in his country because accepting boatloads of undocumented migrants would open the floodgates to "thousands and thousands of other boats," according to a report by Agence France-Press.

Despite the calls from asylum seekers on the MV Alicia to enter New Zealand, there are "other indications on the boat that they wanted to go to Canada. Australia´s also a possibility," Key is quoted as saying in the Herald Sun.

[12-07-2011,18:44]
[***.206.79.202]
Althia Raj, Postmedia New
(in reply to: Tamil boat likely headed for Canada)
More tsunami expected nonetheless!

No reason that the new refugee act shouldn´t come any sooner!

[12-07-2011,22:46]
[**.232.244.253]
Anonymous
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