A second Tamil migrant has been ordered released from custody by the Immigration and Refugee Board, but government lawyers have sought to keep the man behind bars.The release was ordered Wednesday night by IRB member Otto Nupponen after a lengthy detention hearing. The man can't be identified because of a publication ban imposed at the beginning of the detention hearings.
But lawyers for the Canada Border Services Agency immediately sought a stay of the order at a Federal Court hearing hastily convened Thursday afternoon. A judicial review of the release decision will be heard next month, meaning the Tamil migrant will spend at least another month behind bars.
Seconds after Mr. Nupponen's decision was read out Wednesday evening, a federal government lawyer informed the man's lawyer, Larry Smeets, that Ottawa would seek to block the release.
The migrant was among 76 Sri Lankan Tamils to arrive in a boat off Canada's West Coast in October. They have all made refugee claims. The man ordered released told the hearing he has a friend in Canada with whom he can reside.
Since their arrival in October, the Tamil migrants have been the focus of intense scrutiny as Canadian authorities attempt to investigate who they are and why they sailed here.
The migrants' lawyers say they are refugees fleeing Sri Lanka's post civil war. But Canadian authorities are investigating claims that some of the men might be members of the Tamil Tigers, the separatist group that waged a two-decade-long war with the Sri Lankan government. The Tigers, also known as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), have been listed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government.
Rohan Gunaratna, a Singapore-based terrorism expert who is advising the Canadian government, has said the boat the men arrived in was a former Tamil Tiger gun-running ship, and at least two of the migrants are members of the LTTE.
All but one of the men have been held in custody for nearly two months. And some of the IRB members presiding at the detention hearing have warned government lawyers that the men can't be held indefinitely.
At the migrant's previous detention hearing last month, IRB member Leeann King said she doubted the man was a terrorist. However, Ms. King agreed to keep the man in custody while authorities investigated his past.
“There is a better chance that you are not a former LTTE member and that you are exactly who you say you are,” Ms. King said. “If that is the case, then it would be understandably extremely disturbing for you to be detained on this ground in Canada under this suspicion.”
Mr. Smeets, the migrant's lawyer, said his client was very disappointed to hear he must stay in custody, but is hopeful he will soon be released.
A judicial review of the release has been scheduled for early January. Under a judicial review, a Federal Court judge can send the decision back to the IRB to be heard again, but cannot overturn the decision.
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