Deportations to tsunami zone halted

January 7, 2005

MONTREAL -- Canada said Friday it's halting deportations to six countries hit by the killer wave that has claimed nearly 150,000 lives in South Asia and Africa.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said it's temporarily suspending removal orders for 4,252 individuals facing deportation to the devastated countries.

War criminals, individuals with a criminal record in Canada and those deemed a risk to national security will not be exempted from removal.

The nations listed by the agency are Sri Lanka, Maldives and Seychelles, along with certain coastal regions of India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Absent from the list are the African nations of Kenya and Somalia, where the massive sea surge killed 300 people and left thousands homeless.

Claude Bourget, a Quebec regional director for the agency, said in an interview that deportees will be asked whether they're from one of the affected areas.

"If they can convince us that they are, then we'll be very flexible on this," he said. "Then we just defer their removal."

Bourget didn't say how long the moratorium will last.

About three-quarters of the Canadian deportees are from Sri Lanka and India, which suffered the second and third-highest tsunami death tolls, respectively.

While refugee advocates praised Canada's quick decision to halt the deportations, there were calls for a more permanent solution to their plight.

Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, noted the deportees can be sent back to devastated regions whenever the government sees fit.

"As far as anybody knows, that can mean that next week they can decide that the worst is over, 'You're going back,' " she said in an interview.

"Unless people choose to go back, it would be inhumane to force somebody back to areas devastated by the tsunami."

She added the halt to deportations didn't initially cover removals to the United States.

A Sri Lankan national was recently ordered deported to the United States - a country that often sends Canadian deportees back their country of origin.

But Bourget said Canada has closed that potential back door to the tsunami zone.

"It has changed today (Friday)," he said.

"From now on, no more removals to the States until we get guarantees from the United States that they will not be removing them (overseas)."

The moratorium issue is particularly urgent for Yakub Mohamed, a Somali father of four who has been in Canada for 15 years but who faces deportation next Tuesday.

Mohamed fled Somalia's civil war in 1989, was denied refugee status even though his wife and three oldest children were granted asylum. His nine-year-old son was born in Canada.

Coastal areas of the east African country were hit hard by the Dec. 26 tsunami and even relief agencies have had problems getting into the areas.

Agency spokesman Chris Kealey said from Ottawa the decision to exclude Somalia is based on information from affected areas.

"It's based on the assessment that we have got from our field officers and from all of the other Canadian government and other government agencies on the ground in those locations that Somalia in particular has not been impacted to the same extent as the others," Kealey said.

However, the situation is being monitored and if conditions are deemed to have changed, Somalia or other areas of Africa could be added to the list, he added.

"It's an ongoing situation."

Documents obtained by The Canadian Press show Immigration authorities plan to fly Mohamed to the port city of Berbera in northeastern Somalia via the United Arab Emirates.

Mohamed's lawyer, Amina Sherazee, said it makes no sense to force Mohamed to leave his wife and children - all Canadian citizens - in Toronto and send him back to a country he hasn't seen in 15 years.

The destruction left by the tsunami has only added to the potential hazards facing Mohamed if he's forced to return, Sherazee said.

A breakdown of Canada's suspension of deportations to countries affected by the tsunami, with the number of Canadian deportees from each country.

-Canadian deportees affected: 4,252

-India: 2,580

-Sri Lanka: 1,522

-Indonesia: 107

-Thailand: 30

-Seychelles: 12

-Maldives: 1