East Coast becoming preferred illegal route into Canada

Canada's East Coast becoming preferred illegal route into Canada

Oct 31, 2005

 

There are increasing questions about just how tight Canada's border is after a series of incidents involving Chinese nationals who entered the country illegally after leaving European cruise ships.

Jin Sin Youn was one of those who sneaked into Canada. Now there are questions about his role in a human smuggling ring that's targeting Eastern Canada.

"That's the allegation, that he counselled, or aided, or abetted a number of individuals to provide false information," said Crown prosecutor Mark Cowan.

The false information allegedly allowed Jin and three other Chinese nationals to obtain false passports, board a cruise ship in France, and try to sneak into Canada.

It is the latest in a pattern of security incidents at Eastern Canadian ports. "This is a new trend here in the Atlantic region. It's never been experienced before," said RCMP Sgt. Phil Young.

Earlier this month, six Chinese nationals, posing as tourists, were arrested in St. John's. Two weeks earlier, Jin and his three travel companions were picked up in Halifax.

And on Sept. 9, 17 Chinese nationals claimed they were seasick and left a cruise ship in Halifax. They caught a train to Toronto and haven't been seen since.

"And this is one of the flaws with the notion that tougher laws make Canada safer," said immigration lawyer Lee Cohen. "All it does is drive the industry further underground and people become increasingly clever."

The traditional route used to smuggle people from China into North America has been through the West Coast.

But smugglers look for any opportunity. Now that the European Union no longer requires visas from visiting South Koreans, the Chinese smugglers give the Chinese nationals South Korean passports, fly them to Paris, then put them on cruise ships destined for the East Coast of Canada.

"They're not going to stop coming. It's just a matter of us being proactive and trying to cut them off at the different sources that we believe they are coming from," said Young