| Description |
The saga began as a simple remake of a familiar plot. A rusty tramp freighter slips through the chill Atlantic fog to deposit its human cargo near Canada’s undefended coast. Men with the dark complexions of south Asia swarm ashore, risking the hazardous illegal landing to take advantage of Canada’s well-known leniency toward anyone who manages to set foot on its soil and claim the status of a refugee. The country’s reputation is confirmed when the first Canadians to encounter the new arrivals respond with reflexive generosity, offering tea and muffins.
Indeed, the resemblance to last summer’s arrival of 155 Tamil refugees fleeing civil war in Sri Lanka was so strong that initial reports wrongly identified the latest migrants as Tamils as well. It soon became clear that they were not. In fact, most of the 173 men and one woman who landed near the western tip of Nova Scotia in the early hours of Sunday, July 12, came from the Punjab, one of the most prosperous regions of northern India. Moreover, almost all were
Sikhs, members of a religious sect riven by factional intrigue and internecine violence. And as more details about their background slowly emerged, the seemingly straightforward refugee drama took on the more sinister coloring of a political thriller. |
| First Sentence |
6
East Indians detained in Halifax : a
CANADA
The
he saga began as a simple
remake of a familiar plot . A
rusty tramp freighter slips
through the chill Atlantic
fog
to deposit its human T
cargo near Canada's undefended
coast . Men with the dark complexions
of south Asia swarm ashore , risking
the hazardous illegal landing to take
advantage of Canada's well - known le
niency toward anyone who manages to
set foot on its soil and claim the sta
tus of a refugee . The country's reputa
tion is confirmed when the first Cana
dians to encounter the new arrivals
respond with reflexive generosity , of
fering tea and muffins .
Indeed , the resemblance to last
summer's arrival of 155 Tamil refu
gees fleeing civil war in Sri Lanka
was so strong that initial reports
wrongly identified the latest migrants
as Tamils as well . It soon became
clear that they were not . In fact , most
of the 173 men and one woman who
landed near the western tip of Nova
Scotia in the early hours of Sunday ,
July 12 , came from the Punjab , one of
the most prosperous regions of
north
ern India . Moreover , almost all were
refugee drama that soon took on the coloring of
newest
| Sikhs , members of a religious sect riv
en by factional intrigue and inter
necine violence . And as more de
tails about their background slowly
emerged , the seemingly straightfor
ward refugee drama took on the more
sinister coloring of a political thriller .
Even so , there were marked paral
lels between the Tamils ' arrival off
Newfoundland on August 11 , 1986 ,
and the Sikhs ' appearance last week
on a rocky beach 220 km southwest of
Halifax . Most notably , both smug
gling operations originated in western
Europe , where tens of thousands of
south Asian refugees have flooded
into West Germany , the Netherlands
and Belgium since 1984. And both
clearly relied on perceptions of Cana
da as a soft target : an easily entered
country whose immigration laws are
far less restrictive than those of Eu
rope . Immigration Minister Benoît
Bouchard confirmed that perception
last week when he acknowledged that
existing legislation amounts to an
open invitation to
mass landings
by illegal immigrants on Canadian
shores ( page 10 ) . " Canada has no
choice , " Bouchard told a news confer
Maclean's
VOL . 100 NO . 30
of a political thriller
boat people
ence . " People cannot be turned back . "
Indeed , the latest arrivals will proba
bly be allowed to remain in Canada
until their refugee claim is decided - a
process that could take as long as five
years .
But while the two refugee dramas ,
11 months apart , seemed similar at
first , it was their differences that
stood out as more details emerged
about the Sikh affair . For one thing ,
police and Coast Guard searchers
moved quickly this time to seize the
ship involved in the smuggling opera
tion and to arrest several of its partic
ipants . Rolf Nygren , 47 , a Swedish
mariner with addresses in France and
Spain , was arrested within hours of
the migrants ' landing - and almost as
quickly sentenced to one year in jail
and fined $ 5,000 for arranging the
Sikhs ' covert voyage . Two male ac
complices were also jailed and fined .
Another difference this time was
more striking - and potentially more
disturbing . Almost from
the mo
ment the migrants appeared in tiny
Charlesville , N.S. , ( population 116 ) in
the early hours of Sunday morning ,
there were questions about their iden
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