Two provincial jails east of Vancouver are preparing for an influx this week of 200 new residents: Tamil migrants aboard a ship that is expected to arrive in British Columbia.
That disclosure from a spokesman for the District of Maple Ridge Tuesday is the clearest indication that the long-awaited arrival of the MV Sun Sea is imminent, three months after its departure from Thailand.
John Leeburn, a spokesman for Maple Ridge, said wardens at the Fraser Regional Corrections Centre and the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women have told district officials that the RCMP and Canadian Border Services would likely be boarding the ship offshore mid-week, and that the vessel would be taken to Victoria as its first port of call.
An expected 100 men would then be taken to the Fraser centre, which is the jail for men, while 80 women would be taken to Alouette.
It is not clear where any children will be taken, he said.
Mr. Leeburn said the briefing from corrections officials suggests the Tamil migrants will be at the jails for at least two to four months of processing.
“We’re told this out of a good neighbour policy because the prisons have been here for a while and there’s a good working relationship between us and them,” he said.
Passengers aboard the ship are fleeing after the end of a civil war in Sri Lanka. Some security experts worry that the ship may be carrying high-ranking members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a banned terrorist organization in Canada.
Canadian officials have not commented about the ship’s passengers or when the ship may be intercepted.
A spokesman for B.C. Corrections said the facilities would be able to handle migrants, recalling that 76 Tamils from another ship, the Ocean Lady, were housed last year in Maple Ridge. Many are now living in Toronto, pending refugee hearings.
“The custody of migrants is something we have dealt with a number of times in the past decade. I think it’s something we have shown we’re able to do, and can respond quickly and effectively,” Jess Gunnarson said in an interview.
“[We] are certainly committed to our federal partners in terms of providing that service.”
Mr. Gunnarson said privacy and security directives limit his ability to comment further.
“A number of the operational decisions that need to be made with the arrival of such a ship or once such a ship has arrived really can’t be made until that time because they are based on the number of individuals, the demographics of those individuals and their backgrounds.”
Navy ships or an RCMP vessel will likely make first contact with the Sun Sea upon arrival in Canadian waters, after which the vessel will likely be boarded and then escorted to dock.
The vessel is expected to taken to the Ogden Point terminal in Victoria, which is where officials took the last ship.
Richard Kurland, immigration policy analyst and lawyer, said tuberculosis and dehydration could be major health issues considering the vessel has been at sea since May.
Bob Barlow, general manager of Western Stevedoring, which operates Ogden Point, said Tuesday that the company has not been contacted by government officials about the arrival of the ship.
Gray Line, the bus company used last October to help transport migrants, said no request has been made to stand ready in the event the vessel arrives.
“We were only given one hour notice last year for two buses,” said a dispatcher, who asked not to be named.
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White flight is in full force in Canadian Cities.
They say these people are Tamil Tigers, a outlawed Terrorist group, listed by Canada, so why are they allowed in Canadian waters. The Canadian Navy should have just sunk the boat and no one would have known any differently.
I have been to Canada and when I got off the plane I thought that I had landed in India. The airport personnel was all indians and pakistanies-the canadians call them “pakies”-and furthermore the city (Toronto) was full of them too. I had learned that aproximately 50% of all Canada’s biggest cities are infested with nonwhite pakies. So what’s the big deal with a few more nonwhites settling in Canada, anyway? Canada is not a white country so feel free to settle in, welcome home you damn nonwhites!