Canada acts on smugglers

CANADIAN Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says it cost twice as much for asylum seekers to travel by boat to Canada as it does to reach Australia, and his country does not want to be the next ''doormat''.
He called a press conference in response to information from Indonesian police that the asylum boat MV Alicia had been destined for Canada before it was intercepted. The people on board have also displayed signs pleading with New Zealand for help.
The Canadian government would seek to rush through anti-people-smuggling laws ''designed to get people to think twice about Canada as the best destination'', he said.

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''It's more expensive to come to Canada, it requires large steel-hulled vessels as opposed to the small wooden fishing boats, Mr Kenney said.
Australia has been the most common destination for Sri Lankan asylum seekers, but the federal government's change in policy - to hold boat arrivals in limbo on Christmas Island ahead of a planned refugee swap with Malaysia - is claimed to have prompted the latest boat to target New Zealand or Canada instead.
Its 87 Tamil passengers had lived in Malaysia for two years.
Mr Kenney said people-smuggling syndicates often had ''open-ended'' contracts that did not guarantee a specific destination - and this could account for confusion over whether the boat was destined for New Zealand or Canada.
Only two boats of Sri Lankan asylum seekers have reached Canada since 2009, and none have reached New Zealand, where Prime Minister John Key has also reacted sharply to suggestions the Tamils on the MV Alicia wanted to seek refuge there.
Mr Kenney said Tamil refugees should go to ''neighbouring countries'' in south-east Asia to seek protection instead of paying for expensive, long journeys across the Pacific to Canada.
He said Canadian police had set up a presence in Asia to work with Indonesia, Thailand and Australia to tackle human smuggling syndicates in the aftermath of the MV Sun Sea arriving in Vancouver in August 2010. The cargo ship, carrying about 400 Tamils, had earlier been turned away by the Australian navy.


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