Tamil migrants make risky deals to flee Sri Lanka

Tamil migrants make risky deals to flee Sri Lanka

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The MV Sun Sea is escorted past Fisgard Lighthouse and into CFB Esquimalt in Colwood, B.C.,Friday, Aug. 13, 2010. (Jonathan Hayward / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
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People check out the vessel Ocean Lady in Victoria, Sunday, Oct.18, 2009. (Arnold Lim / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
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Would-be migrants are pictured through the tinted windows of a bus as two buses are escorted by RCMP officers and B.C. Sheriff's vehicles through Surrey, B.C., en route to an undisclosed location after arriving on a ferry from Vancouver Island on Sunday October 18, 2009. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Updated: Sun Sep. 05 2010 12:36:35 PM
Geoff Nixon, CTV.ca News Staff

The hundreds of Tamil migrants who travelled across oceans on rickety boats to come to Canada faced danger at every turn.
They left their homeland, cut deals with dangerous people and put their lives at risk.

David Poopalapillai, the national spokesperson for the Canadian Tamil Congress, said his organization routinely hears from Tamils who have been burned trying to get out of Sri Lanka.
Recently he spoke with a woman who was calling from Malaysia. She had survived an episode at sea where a boat capsized and eight migrants died.
"Many times they are being fooled, many times they die," Poopalapillai told CTV.ca in a telephone interview from Vancouver.
Even those who arrived by boat in British Columbia last month were not guaranteed of their safety: A 37-year-old man died en route to Canada and his body was buried at sea.
Yet a recent report in the Globe and Mail reveals that dozens more Tamil migrants are stationed in hotel rooms in Thailand, waiting for their own chance to head for Canada.
These migrants are gambling that it is better to try to land in Canada than it is to end up in India and Malaysia -- or other countries that have not signed the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention -- where the process can drag on for years.

Migrants who land in one of these countries can stay in limbo "for the rest of their lifetime," said Poopalapillai, with faint chance of their refugee cases being resolved.
Canada adheres to the refugee convention, which obliges Ottawa to take in the people who land on Canadian soil seeking asylum.
It also puts these refugees at the front of the line, which critics say leaves Canada's refugee system ripe for abuse -- including by human smugglers.
"Human smuggling is a despicable crime and any attempts to abuse Canada's generosity for financial gain are utterly unacceptable," Christopher McCluskey, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, told CTV.ca in a recent email.

"We will toughen our laws to ensure that we are able to maintain our borders and defeat human smuggling."
A different kind of travel agent
Some people would call them smugglers, but the Tamil migrants call them agents.
These "agents" can help spring a person from Sri Lanka by helping them to reach foreign soil through deception, bribery and other tactics.
Sometimes their clients stay in hotel rooms in Thailand, in other cases the migrants could be sitting in a jungle for days, while the smugglers wait for the perfect moment to make them disappear.
Poopalapillai said the migrants don't like to talk much about the agents, nor the methods they use to take them where they want to go.
Such agents arranged for the MV Sun Sea to arrive in B.C. last month, as well as for the Ocean Lady to land there the previous fall.
But a chance at a new life doesn't come cheap. Sun Sea passengers are reported to have paid up to $50,000 each to come to Canada. An Ocean Lady passenger told CTV British Columbia last month that he paid $44,000 for his own voyage.
Sanjeev Kuhendrarajah, a 28-year-old Tamil and former Canadian resident who had an opportunity to ride on the Sun Sea, told CTV.ca in a telephone interview that the cost can vary depending on the deal worked out with an agent.
But $50,000 would be the maximum that a migrant would pay.

"This is Asia, where money talks," said Kuhendrarajah, who rode on a similar boat that was headed for Australia last year.
But Kuhendrarajah, who is now hiding in a location he wants to keep private, insisted that the agents "won't just take anybody."
He said the people who made the trip to Canada paid a lump sum up front and will pay the rest later. The smugglers take the down-payment "so they can cover their costs," including a variety of bribes and operational expenses.
It's a process that is powered by "a bit of human nature and a bit of greed," which can net the smugglers some major money, Kuhendrarajah said.
Friends and family who live outside of Sri Lanka -- including in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States -- will have vouched that the migrants are good for the money they have promised.
And that's where the money comes from: friends and family abroad who can afford to send funds back to Sri Lanka.
Poopalapillai said the million-plus Sri Lankan Tamils who live outside their former homeland are often asked for help from relatives who remain in the country.
They give back because they feel guilty about the good lives they are living away from the problems in Sri Lanka, he said.
"The people chip in, it's like a collection," Poopalapillai said.
Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Canada, Chitranganee Wagiswara, points to the fact that the UN recently declared that conditions have "greatly improved" for Tamils in Sri Lanka since the end of the war.
But 16 months after the conflict's end, Wagiswara confirms that nearly 30,000 Tamils are still stuck in camps, unable to return home for various reasons.
Destination unknown
When Tamil migrants pay the agents and a voyage is confirmed, there is still a lot of unpredictability ahead.
Kuhendrarajah, who spent much of his youth in Canada but was later deported back to Sri Lanka following a criminal conviction, said migrants don't necessarily know when they will be leaving or where they will end up.
In the case of the Sun Sea, for example, he "never knew the boat would actually make it to Canada" when he was offered a spot.
That contradicts the official story from Ottawa, which is that the Sun Sea set out on a very precise course for Canada from Day One.
As Toews told reporters in Halifax this week, the Sun Sea "was not simply a tramp steamer wandering around Southeast Asia and picked up 492 people. This was a very well organized and co-ordinated effort.
"Individuals were not picked up, for example, on the shores of Sri Lanka and then they wandered around Southeast Asia for a number of months," he added. "This was a boat…that was specifically outfitted for a long journey and the only destination of that particular ship was Canada. It was a very deliberate journey to Canada."
Then there is the business of how the Sun Sea became the Sun Sea.
The ship was previously known as the Harin Panich 19, which was owned by a Thai shipping company until the end of March.
That's when Harin Group -- the company that used to own the Harin Panich 19 -- used a third-party to sell the cargo ship to another company, which goes by the name of Sun & Rshiya. The Globe and Mail has reported Sun & Rshiya paid about $175,000 Canadian for the Sun Sea.
The ship's flag and nationality were changed the day after the sale. Four-and-a-half months later, the ship arrived in Canada packed with nearly 500 Tamil migrants.
"We have not been in contact with the new owner or the vessel itself after it was sold and only found out through the news that she was (used) by illegal immigrants to enter Canada illegally and we are deeply saddened by these (sic) news," the Harin Group told CTV.ca in an email.
Both the Canadian government and the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada have warned that the Sun Sea may have carried members of the Tamil Tigers -- the banned terrorist group that the Sri Lankan government alleges was involved with arranging the Sun Sea's voyage.
Wagiswara said the Tamil migrants who boarded the Sun Sea were likely granted tourist visas to Thailand where they would have stayed before departing for Canada.
Asked if Thailand needs to do more to prevent the smuggling of Tamil migrants, Wagiswara said the key is having cooperation between governments.
"It's not an easy task and there needs to be a lot of international cooperation amongst many countries," said Wagiswara, noting that Sri Lanka maintains a dialogue with governments throughout Southeast Asia.
Watching the journeys of the Ocean Lady and the Sun Sea from afar, Kuhendrarajah said their passengers have landed in a good place.
"Canada is a good place for refugees," he said.
But the individual migrants who arrived in B.C. on the Ocean Lady and Sun Sea are still not guaranteed to stay, as that will depend on whether their refugee claims are approved. The Canadian government says they are being processed according to the terms of Canadian law.

Tamil Interview by Saradha Ramanathan from Australia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okCsQPXjwb8&feature=player_embedded

Dailymotion Nilavaram Boat People a News Politics video SaradhaNathan 10 videos SubscribeEdit Subscription Loading...

A response to Shanaka Jayasekera's allegations against TRO, K Reggi in UK and others.

This interview was given to the Sri Lankan Government controlled Sunday Observer newspaper. There is no media freedom in Sri Lanka and many journalists have been killed or have fled the country due to persecution by the Sri Lankan government.

Mr Jayasekara is an ethnic Sinhalese which is the majority and ruling race in Sri Lanka. In the interview, Mr Jayasekara, makes statements which seem to be baseless and biased towards his former homeland. I would be very interested in finding out the basis for the following quote: “The only figure that I have come across is that TRO leader Regi, now living in the UK has over US$50 million of TRO funds under his control. The LTTE is still having six single engine aircraft packed in crates in a warehouse in Asmara, Eretria. It is also believed that one sea plane allegedly purchased with LTTE funds is running charter flights in the Fiji Islands”.

Mr Jayasekara further states, “….. all Tamil boat people should be sent back” despite the UNHCR report stating that certain groups of Tamils are still at risk. It is disappointing that he makes comment on a report that he obviously has not read thoroughly. The Edmund Rice Centre director Phil Glendenning, who returned from Sri Lanka in April, said at least nine asylum seekers returned to the country by Australia's previous government were killed while those sent back in the past year have been detained and some assaulted.
end:
Tamillatest.com comment as follows.

The response is valid.
But TRO people like Regi, Chandru Pararajasingam, Naren, Sreethran of TRO USA, (owner of Tamil Net and
Tamils Against Genocide, Representative of TECH Vanni in USA together with Manoranjan have not accounted
for funds collected by TRO for many years from at least 30 countries.
TRO and the newly found ITRO continues to collect funds even after the end of the war in May 2009.
There are other details of TRO accounting and expenditure flaws which best kept unpublished for the
time being. So are so many failed business investments of TRO, purchases of  vehicles between 2005 and 2006,
exceeding millions of dollars.
Shanaka Jayasekera is an academic looking to compete with the other academic from Singapore Rohan Gunaratna
peddling their falsely claimed expertise in "terrorism" for financial gain and acclaim. This is the newest industry
related to Sri Lanka after the NGO business. There are no poor NGO's in Sri Lanka which the Tsunami in 2004,
and the civil war gave them a huge boost. They also portray themselves as "Think Tanks" for peace and reconciliation.
Unfortunately, they are totally out of touch with the people.
It has become a lucrative business!


http://www.catholicleader.com.au/news.php/top-stories/sri-lankans-facing-dangerous-return_57310.



August 30, 2010 1:34 PM

The Scope of Canadian Conscience by Roy Ratnavel

The Scope of Canadian Conscience


by Roy Ratnavel
As my flight descended into Charleston, South Carolina, I could see Fort Sumpter in the horizon through my sunny window of the aged United Airlines CRJ aircraft. Fort Sumter is best known as the site upon which the first shots initiated the American Civil War — subsequently bringing on unimaginable suffering of the people during and after that gruesome period in American history.
This inspired me to write about the people I left behind almost 22 years ago and their unimaginable, still ongoing suffering due to the longest civil war in Asian history. Leading up to the finale of Sri Lankan Civil War, many military strategists, politicians and terror experts in the West have either failed to recognize the deeper issues in Sri Lanka or they have deliberately applied a methodology to cause one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies of the century.
The murder of many thousands of Tamils last year by the Sri Lankan government is one more proof of lack of common sense of Western countries intervention in Sri Lanka. The listing of the Tigers, and not condemning the atrocities of Sri Lanka on Tamils severed to only strengthen Sri Lanka's 'racial' tendencies, fanaticism and sheer brutality.
We are now witnessing the outcome of such one-sided Western meddling with Tamil freedom struggle. Proud people of 2000 year old rich culture of Indus Valley are now risking the high seas and their lives, including the lives of many orphans, begging for another chance at life, and all we Canadians can say is, "send them back." Ironically, we call ourselves a nation of 'civilized' people. One has to question if the mankind has already lost it's sanity.
Today, Sri Lanka is a ‘Democratic’ dictatorship run by a tiny elite family of thugs that suppresses the Tamil minority and denies past violence against Tamil civilians. But as always there are few noisiest cranks and sympathizers of Sri Lankan terror apparatus with clockwork prediction ready to suggest that the persecution of Tamils is a myth propagated by Tamil extremists. We know the kind of people who deny the Holocaust. What interest anyone has in denying the suffering of Tamils remains to be discovered.
I would like to recommend to those who are in denial to pick up a copy of a recent U.S. State Department report which highlights well-documented atrocities committed by Sri Lanka last year alone. Despite their sophomoric denials, the systematic abuses by Sri Lankan government forces are among the most serious imaginable. Finally, this year UN has ordered a warcrime investigation on Sri Lanka.
Canadian officials too should stop making pedestrian, boringly predictable utterances on public forums. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said, passengers paid up to $50,000 for a spot on the Sun Sea. If this sum is accurate, it suggests these people were desperate enough to spend what amounts to a small fortune to escape their homeland. I think Canada should take their desperation seriously.
Toews laments that “terrorist planning and financing” behind this voyage is extremely prejudicial to these individuals and to the Tamil community. If I were fleeing persecution, I’d be grateful to any and all who facilitated my escape. The Tamil boat-people should not be tainted by a blanket presumption of guilt.
Right now Tamils are sort of isolated, being demonized and the sense is growing in Canada that anything associated with Tamils is somehow alien, foreign and aggressive. And that is very dangerous line of thinking. Minister Toews irresponsible comments only helps to fan this illicit flame of anger.
Even the possibility that the Canadian government may be considering a deal to share intelligence with the Sri Lankan government is reprehensible. Few years back Sri Lanka was voted out of UN Human Rights Council. Sri Lankan government even said our parliamentarian Bob Rae and the Swedish Foreign Minister are a threat to Sri Lanka’s national security. Given such lack of credibility and idiocy, relying on Sri Lankan authorities for background checks on Tamil refugees who have arrived on our shores makes as much as sense as asking Colonel Sanders, "What's for dinner?"
Tamils arrival in Canada started in earnest 27 years ago in 1983 after the Sri Lankan government orchestrated horrendous race riot in July of that year. The mass exodus accelerated in the last decade of last century resulting in the largest Sri Lankan Tamil population outside of Sri Lanka. Since then, collectively Tamil lives were ‘rewired’ in this great land, and all around the free world outside the borders of Sri Lanka.
Prior to this, Tamils world consisted of the notion that populace mattered little. It is a word associated with state aggression and brutality. Tamils were exposed to death and destruction and witnessed many atrocities, engulfing us in general malaise. They are from a country where weapons dominated, and the slaughter of innocents was a form of development aid for the government.
Canadian environment of political freedom and freedom of choice, the process of enantiodromia began in one form or another. Tamils gradual transformation began from an unfairly organized, flawed democratic system into a liberal Democracy where one has the freedom to attempt to shape their own life. Tamils gained the opportunity of knowing and choosing between different forms of life — and, have now established a mounting presence in multiple facets of Canadian life: business, academic, political and social.
While the past may not repeat itself, it does often rhyme, as Mark Twain once said. Tamils’ future chapters to come may be different, but the verses are likely to sound the same. Contemporary events differ from history in that we do not know the results they will produce. Looking back, we can assess the significance of our past experiences, situations, hardships we faced and trace the consequences they have brought in our adopted country. While history runs its course, it is not history to us — rather, it’s our collective experience.
Tamils have worked their own salvation, their survival, in a long series of acts, conditions and judgments. Now Tamils who live outside of Sri Lanka have purpose. This purpose is a big part of Tamil survival. Hereto between life and death, these 492 souls arrived on our shores — chose life. Chose Canada.
Dangerous game of guilt by association could be played with almost anybody with a card and a highlighter. This whole thing has gotten to a panic mode. In our panic, us Canadians lost sight of something very important. If only someone could step up and cut through all this political posturing, grandstanding and fear-mongering and remind us what Canada is all about — a ‘civilized’ nation.
Rather than creating a smokescreen with bitter rhetoric about terrorism, Canada’s priority must be to expedite due process of each refugee claim to determine if they are legitimate refugees. Similar accusations were made last year as well when Ocean Lady came to our shores with 76 Tamil men and it turned out to be unprovable. Canada must stop this predictable pattern of reaction because such entry doesn’t need villains. Hate is diving us, and this hate is then harvested and sold as news.
If Tamils victimized in this conflict and fearing further persecution put their lives in the hands of smugglers, they are only doing what so many refugees before them have been forced to do. As an island nation, there is no way out of Sri Lanka but by air or sea. Anyone who says that ‘these people’ should have applied for entry to Canada through ‘the proper channels’ certainly haven’t paid attention to the news emerging from Sri Lanka.
Canada has an obligation under our law to take refugee claims seriously and give them due process. What is not sure is if Canadian government will send them all back to appease the masses to gain political milage — which will be unfortunate. What is for sure is if Canada sends them back without hearing their stories, then we Canadians have no right to claim that we are a ‘civilized nation.’
As I leave, I wonder if Sri Lanka could ever become like South Carolina after the civil war — devoid of state orchestrated killings but full of economic hope, peace and prosperity. And, how long would that take? Until then, Tamil boats will be roaming the friendly waters. Fort Sumpter appeared through my window yet again, as I ascended towards the cloudy sky.

roy_ratnavel@hotmail.com

Friday, August 27, 2010

Roy Ratnavel is a former Vice President of the Canadian Tamil Congress, and GTF.