Canada: Sun Sea arrival cost Ottawa more than $25M

Let's review why the West is perceived as being soft in the head. Here we have 500 "poor and  destitute" Sri Lankans who paid $45 000 a head to book a place on a boat bound for Canada. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't have $45 000 lying around if I were in distress. These people claim to be "refugees", yet this same boat bypassed numerous countries to get to Canada. So far, it's cost the Canadian tax payer more than $25 million to deal with this situation but it's obviously only the tip of the iceberg, because, if these "refugees" are successful with their asylum application, then the generous Canadian tax payer gets to support not only them but also their extended family, plus any new children born for the duration of their lives. How grand is that tax payer? The Canadian government has also identified - shock, horror, you don't say! - that 32 Sun Sea passengers so far have suspected ties to the Tamil Tigers rebels. So, on top of getting to financially support these "refugees", you could also be making a few terrorists nice and comfy in their new homeland....That, children, is why the West is soft in the head. Or, as I like to say: "no good deed goes unpunished!?"


 Sun Sea approaching Canada for its big pay day

The human smuggling operation that ferried almost 500 Sri Lankans to Canada aboard a retired cargo ship last summer has cost the federal government more than $25-million, according to budget estimates released on Tuesday.
The figures tabled in the House of Commons show the Canada Border Services Agency spent $22-million on the arrival of the MV Sun Sea, while the cost to the RCMP was $2.1-million. An extra $900,000 was allotted to the Immigration and Refugee Board.

“This funding will be used to offset expenses incurred to intercept and secure the MV Sun Sea and to process the migrants on board in accordance with Canada’s domestic and international obligations,” the Treasury Board said in a statement.

The figures are for the fiscal year that ends March 31, 2011. In addition, the government has spent $6.4-million to “provide dedicated resources to the investigation and disruption of human smuggling networks.” Almost half that amount went to the RCMP while the rest was spent by the CBSA, Privy Council, Foreign Affairs and National Defence.

The estimates are the first glimpse at the cost of dealing with the Sun Sea, which sailed from Thailand last May and was intercepted off the British Columbia coast in August. “This is not cheap,” Jason Kenney, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, said in an interview on Tuesday.

The smugglers charged up to $45,000 a head to transport the 493 Sri Lankans to Canada. One man died at sea. All have claimed refugee status, including some the government is alleging are former members of the Tamil Tigers rebel group.

The arrival of the Sun Sea, which came 10 months after 76 Sri Lankan migrants made a similar voyage to Canada aboard the Ocean Lady, prompted the government to draft a new anti-human smuggling bill. It is expected to go to a vote in the spring but opposition parties say they will not support it.

“The notion that people have to cross the entire Pacific Ocean, bypass dozens of other countries, in order exclusively to make an asylum claim in Canada, is on the face of it ridiculous,” Mr. Kenney said. “The notion that Canada is the only place that will grant people in need of asylum refuge is ridiculous.”

The RCMP, CBSA and CSIS have all sent officers to Southeast Asia to try to stop human smuggling vessels destined for Canada. Last month, Thai immigration police arrested an alleged migrant smuggler named Nadesan Jeeyananthan, also known as German Babu, a dual citizen of Sri Lanka and Germany. He was taken into custody in Bangkok. Canadian and Thai officials allege he was involved in the voyage of the Sun Sea.

The passengers of both the Sun Sea and the Ocean Lady are ethnic Tamils, who have long complained of discrimination in Sri Lanka, where they are a minority. A lengthy civil war between the separatist Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan government forces ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the rebels and the killing of their commanders, including the elusive guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Source