Tories reintroduce anti-human smuggling legislation
by Harleen Kaur - June 17, 2011
Canada, 17th June: A bill that had invited severe controversies has been introduced once again by the feds.
The new bill to be introduced by Tories is aimed to control human smuggling in Canada.
In addition, the bill also seeks to make Canadians convinced that the nation’s borders are safe and secure.
Bill to allow detention of irregular arrivals in Canada--New anti-human smuggling bill introduced by the Conservative government will curb undocumented immigrants crossing coasts of Canada through ships.
The act will give authority to Canada immigration minister, Jason Kenney, to title asylum seeking migrants arriving through ships as ‘irregular arrivals’. And it will also make way for detention of such migrants for a maximum period of one year while processing of their claims is underway along with verification of their identity.
Bill aims to make Canada less vulnerable to human smuggling—Hence, the anti-human smuggling bill wants to dissuade human smugglers to sneak people into Canada. Often, it is seen that human-smugglers charge a hefty amount from migrants wanting to move to Canada even though by foul means including vessels.
As per an estimate, as many as 500 migrants had crossed Canada’s borders in the last two years including 492 Tamils arriving aboard Sun Sea and 76 asylum claimants arriving aboard Ocean Lady.
Anti-human smuggling bill will strengthen Canada immigration and refugee system—Speaking about the bill, Jason Kenney stated that it will strengthen the integrity of Canadian immigration system as well as Canada refugee system.
No doubt, it will improve confidence levels of Canada’s neighbors, especially the US, with regard to the security of the nation’s borders, asserted Kenney.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Vic Toews stated that the bill is a clear warning to all anti-social elements that human smuggling is a serious crime and anyone found to be guilty of doing so will be dealt with severe punishment.
Meanwhile, he said that Canada is a welcoming nation to all those immigrants wanting to come to Canada through legal means including legitimate refugees. All undocumented migrants will not be allowed to get Canada permanent residency or bring their families to Canada for a period of five years.
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