Tamil asylum seeker boat nearing Canada

As the political storm over unauthorised boat arrivals continues in Australia, Canada is unexpectedly facing into a similar debate.
Last weekend, the online Asian Tribune news-site reported that a Thai-registed boat carrying 231 Tamils had been spotted off the coast of Guatemala in Central America. That's a journey of more than 16,000 kilometres across the Pacific. It's believed the group are on their way to the province of British Colombia, on Canada's west coast.



Presenter: Helene Hofman
Speakers: Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada; Kenneth Christie, Program Head, Human Security and Peace Building, Royal Roads University (Canada); David Poopalapillai, National Spokesman, Canadian Tamil Congress
Listen: Windows Media
HOFMAN: The MV Sun Sea first came to the attention of the Philippines Coast Guard back in May. At the time, it issued an alert that a suspected people smuggling vessel was in Thai waters and appeared to be heading for Australia. On board were 219 Sri Lankan Tamils and 12 Indian Tamils.
Two month later the cargo ship appears to have changed it's route and has been spotted 16-thousand kilometres away off the west coast of Central America, heading north for Canada. The Canadian government has confirmed that it is monitoring the situation closely, as is Alex Neve, the secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada
NEVE: We're certainly watching with concern because it's clear there will be a temptation, perhaps irresistable, on the part of Canadian officials to interdict or head off the ship before it gets anywhere close to Canada and from a human rights perspective, from a refugee protection perspective that is clearly unacceptable. There does tend to be a very exagerated response from the government. I think each time it gets characterised as this may be the beginning of a flood. If three or four boats are coming, surely there's 10, 20, 30 more behind. That has never materialised of course, but because there isn't a history of this being a common part of how refugees arrive in Canada it always give rise to this dramatic response.
HOFMAN: If the MV Sun Sea gets within 20 kilometres of the Canadian shoreline, then it will become one of just of a handful of boats to have successfully completed the journey.
While Australia has processed 80 boatloads of asylum seekers so far this year, Canada can count only 5 in over a decade. Four of those arrived back in 1999, with 600 mostly Chinese asylum seekers on board. Only 24 were granted refugee status. The only other boat - the Ocean Lady - was intercepted off the coast of British Colombia in October last year, with 76 Sri Lankan asylum seekers on board.
Professor Kenneth Christie, is an expert on peace, development and securityat the Royal Roads University in British Colombia. He says Canada will have to think carefully about how it deals with the situation.
CHRISTIE: The thing is Australia seems to have closed its borders to Tamils coming from Sri Lanka so now these boats may be heading towards Canada. Canada is seen as a sort of soft option and maybe that's what the Canadian government is trying to avoid: appearing as if it is the soft option. It's a political football in that sense because the Canadian government doesn't want to be seen also as sending refugees back to a place where they might be tortured or subject to human rights violations. That's a tricky situation.