Seeking Asylum: Human Smuggling and Bureaucracy at the Border

1. Human Smuggling and Refugee Protection

1 I N JA N UA RY 1999 employees of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) at regional headquarters (RHQ) in Vancouver held tabletop simulation exercises to develop an operational response to a potential marine arrival of smuggled migrants off the western coast of Canada. In June, five months later, they led governmental partners through exercises on the water to practice modus operandi for a response. They rehearsed responses to hypothetical situations such as boarding unflagged foreign vessels at high speed. Immigration employees working in the fields of environmental scanning, strategic planning, and intelligence gathering recognized the possibility that one day such an event might occur. We were prepared. We had thought about it. We had done a contingency plan. In fact, in our plan, we had done some scenarios and workshops on the Island in the spring. One of the areas that we had actually looked at and mapped and everything was where two of the boats came in. So there had been some thinking about it. We had enough information to tell us what was happening in Australia, that it could very likely happen here, and so we were going to get ready. (Interview August 2000) Although accusations have been made to the contrary, they did not know that at that moment smugglerswere, in fact, retrofitting a fishing trawler that would transport migrants from Fujian, China, to British Columbia. Employees of CIC had devised a response with no idea of the magnitude of what lay ahead in the months to come: high-speed chases on the high seas, vessel piracy, and attempts by smugglers to undermine government procedures. On 19 July 1999 the Yuan Yee, a rusted ship carrying 123 migrants smuggled from Fujian, crossed the twelve-mile boundary off the shore of Chapter 1 Human Smuggling and Refugee Protection 2 Human Smuggling and Refugee Protection Vancouver Island, thewesternboundary of Canadian territory, and entered Nootka Sound (Maps 1 and 2). After sighting the boat, a Coast Guard captain contacted RHQ, located in downtown Vancouver. Following is a recollection of that moment by the immigration officer who took the call. Ihavetosaythatwedidn’tknowinadvancethatweweregoingtogethit....Everyone was convinced we knew, that there was some secret U.S. spy satellite up there that was telling us stuff. I took the first call on the 20th of July from the Canada Coast Guard and it was the Captain of the Tanu. . . . I remember him saying, “You know, we’ve got boats.” And I said, “Of course you’ve got boats, you’re the Navy.” And he said, “No, no, you have a boat.” . . . “We’ve got some migrants here and two of them are swimming to shore. What should we do?” I said, “Well, where are they?” He gave me the latitude and longitude, and I said, “Well, where the hell’s that?” Andhe said, “Nootka Sound.” I said, “God,way over there!”Thatwas the first landing in British Columbia centuries ago, and here they were at Nootka Sound. I said, “Well, how far off are they?” He said, “Oh, about 100 meters from theshore.”Soweweregoing,“Wow,thisisweird.”Wesaid,“Whatareyougoingto do?” Andhe said, “Well,what are yougoingto do?” . . . And itwasthenwe realized Map 1. The journey across the Pacific Ocean between the coastal provinces of Fujian, China, and British Columbia, Canada. Human Smuggling and Refugee Protection 3 thatwedohaveafederalmandate,andwefeltgoodthatwehadaresponsethatwe could exercise andthatwehadbeenthinking strategically atthelocallevel. Butwe didn’t know until they were on the beach. (Charlton et al. 2002) This chapter examines the daily encounters of the state with undocumented migrants. By tracing these encounters between the Canadian government and migrants smuggled from China, the chapter illustrates the attempts by nation-states to order human migration, which may be “spontaneous ” and for which policies have yet to be written. The discussion begins with the global landscape of human smuggling and then addresses the phenomenon as it unfolded in Canada during one controversial and memorable episode in recent history. Map 2. Offshore interceptions, ghost ship sightings, and the onshore detention facilities where intercepted migrants were detained in Esquimalt, Vancouver, and Prince George. 4 Human Smuggling and Refugee Protection The Global Landscape of Human Smuggling and Asylum The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees provides a formal definition of a refugee in Article 1: A person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership...