Tamil Migrant Ship M/V Sun Sea will arrive Canada by Aug 14th

[Azure]

Root out the terrorists, put them back on the ship, send them 50 miles out and shoot it down. Those that can swim to shore can get processed the normal way.

[Codes]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Fookin' prawns!

[Azure]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1671766/

Officials have begun disembarking the 490 suspected asylum seekers from the Tamil vessel docked at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, CBC reports. Black umbrellas are being used to shield the passengers’ identities.

Many children have been spotted on deck, some of them peeking out from beneath black tarps.

After a three-month journey, shrouded in as much secrecy as controversy, the MV Sun Sea approached the navy base just after 6:10 a.m. PT Friday. At least a dozen armed Canadian officers were visible onboard.

Paramedics, some wearing surgical masks, boarded the vessel and seemed to be moving with a sense of urgency in and out of the control room on the main level.

As of 9:15 am P.T., no dead bodies had been found on the ship, according to a Navy source. Sources confirmed there is a transition stage in process, as the role of the RCMP and the Navy is faded out and officers from Canada Border Service Agency take the lead.

Good thing our border agents have guns.

[Regorium]

The longer this goes on, the more embarrassing it is.

Please, just send them back already.

[metallicat]

I assume no dead bodies have been found because they've no doubt been dumped into the Pacific Ocean already.

[HOOT]

No worries guys it's only going to cost $25m by the time this is all said and done. We got lots of money just ask the health care and school systems!!!

[jar_e]

Out of curiosity, what would the states do with something like this?

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by HOOT

No worries guys it's only going to cost $25m by the time this is all said and done. We got lots of money just ask the health care and school systems!!!

I would bet is will cost much more than $25m. Health Costs, Detention Costs, Social Services Costs, All the public servants, legal costs (I am sure none of these people have lawyers) and eventually removal costs.

The law needs to change to prevent people who enter Canada by the sea from making refugee claims.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

I would bet is will cost much more than $25m. Health Costs, Detention Costs, Social Services Costs, All the public servants, legal costs (I am sure none of these people have lawyers) and eventially removal costs.

The law needs to change to prevent people who enter Canada by the sea from making refugee claims.

Ya I'm just going off the figure they had in the paper that it costs anaverage of $50k per person. Either way it won't be a pretty number but maybe they can just use the HST to pay for that.

[jar_e]

Just saw on GlobalVancouver estimated (very conservatively they said), the estimate for medicare/admin costs/etc...would be $50 mil plus for the 490 migrants.

[IgiTang]

From a CF standpoint im proud of the way the Navy handled this and of processing the refugees. Not alot of people have the opportunity to actually see whats happening and since there is no official media release I cant speak to some of the situations, what I can say, the Naval Boarding Party of the HMCS Winnipeg and the rest of the crew who guided the MV Sun Sea into harbor were all class in the way they conducted themselves.

What I can comment on within regards to the refugees is that these people were/are in very poor condition from their journey to Canada. At the end of the day, they are still human beings that deserve the minimum necessities that anyone of us would need.

What happens after the initial assessment is up to the Fed. Gov't but the process this far is by no means embarassing to the Canadian people and we should be proud of how it has been handled thus far.

[henriksedin33]

Originally Posted by IgiTang

From a CF standpoint im proud of the way the Navy handled this and of processing the refugees. Not alot of people have the opportunity to actually see whats happening and since there is no official media release I cant speak to some of the situations, what I can say, the Naval Boarding Party of the HMCS Winnipeg and the rest of the crew who guided the MV Sun Sea into harbor were all class in the way they conducted themselves.

How do they feel about being used as a welcoming committee?

[taffeyb]

nothing wrong with immigration as we wouldn't be here otherwise unless we are true Aboriginal Canadians. The issue I have is the circumventing of the proper process. There are scores of people awaiting immigration who have filled out years worth of paperwork...there's lot's of threads in CP that show intolerance to perceived queue jumping when it comes to season tickets. This is the same except that it only affects us indirectly

[Devils'Advocate]

Oh dear. HOZ and I are thanking the same post. Meaning we agree on something. Blue moon tonight folks.

Anyhow, I know very, very little about the situation in Sri Lanka, so I've been doing some reading about what conditions these people are escaping from. From what I'm reading is that there was a brutal civil war between the government and the Tamil Tigers, with terribly brutal human rights abuses by both sides. The Sri Lankan government is cracking down on the people from the area of the country that wanted to separate. Many Tamils are STILL being held hostage in military camps a year after the Tigers were defeated and the separatist movement squashed. Journalists trying to report on conditions in Sri Lanka are being killed according to Amnesty.

You can read a bit more here:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/...ons-2010-05-17

Amnesty says the Tigers routinely used Tamil civilians as human shields, whereas the government herded Tamil civilians into supposed "No Fire Zones", and then proceeded to bomb those areas.

I have a feeling that sending them back to Sri Lanka would be a death sentence. I don't know if that changes anyone's opinion. Maybe we don't care and shouldn't care.

[Mirajj]

I got this the other day. I don't know about the 'joke of the year' bit, but it seems to be apropos to this thread:

This was nominated for best joke of the year - worth sharing.

A Somali arrives in Vancouver as a new immigrant to Canada . He stops the first person he sees walking down the street and says ... 'Thank you Mr. Canadian for letting me in this country, giving me housing, money for food, free medical care, free education and no taxes!'

The passerby says, 'You are mistaken, I am Mexican.'

The man goes on and encounters another passerby. ' Thank you for having such a beautiful country here in Canada !'

The person says, 'I not Canadian, I Vietnamese.'

The new arrival walks further, and the next person he sees he stops, shakes his hand and says, 'Thank you for the wonderful Canada !'

That person puts up his hand and says, 'I am from Middle East , I am not Canadian !'

He finally sees a nice lady and asks, 'Are you a Canadian ?'

She says , 'No, I am from Africa !'

Puzzled, he asks her, 'Where are all the Canadians ?'

The African lady checks her watch and says ...'Probably at work'

[Azure]

I don't have a problem with helping them. But what if more ships start coming?

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by Azure

I don't have a problem with helping them. But what if more ships start coming?

Well, actually, Canada is LUCKY in that situation. There are very few countries with brutal regimes systematically wiping out the civilian population that are within a reasonable sailing distance. The people of Darfur have over-run Chad.

From Red Cross Magazine:
http://www.redcross.int/EN/mag/magaz...5_2/22-23.html

So in spite of tensions over firewood or water, people need to find a way to live together peacefully. That message is understood in Bredging village. “We are like brother and sister. We have to share. We are the same people separated by a border,” says Haoua Mahamat. Bredging village headman, Abdoulaye Ibrahim Djibrine, 47, says, “There are lots of difficulties, but we support the refugees. Although there’s not much room for them here, we have to live together.”

There appears to be far more generosity from those that live in huts, walk miles for clean water and collect wood for cooking food than there is from those with 50 inch TV screens. Chad took in 200,000 refugees that flooded over their borders, certainly jumping THEIR refugee queue.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by Mirajj

Puzzled, he asks her, 'Where are all the Canadians ?'
The African lady checks her watch and says ...'Probably at work'

I don't get it. Is this joke supposed to suggest that immigrants don't work?

[Zevo]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

I don't get it. Is this joke supposed to suggest that immigrants don't work?

Refugees don't work for the approx. two years it takes to process thier claims. Refugees from the first ship that arrived in october have been released and will be waiting another year or two until thier claims are processed. Until then, they are more or less on welfare.
Not sure how it works for legal immigrants.

[henriksedin33]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

I have a feeling that sending them back to Sri Lanka would be a death sentence. I don't know if that changes anyone's opinion. Maybe we don't care and shouldn't care.

Then why did the first ship contain only men? Leaving their families to die?