Is There More Than Meets The Eye?

By L. Smith

On late Friday afternoon, October 17, 2009, Canadian government agency personnel (which included an armed RCMP Emergency Response Team, Canadian Forces and Canada Border Services Agency personnel) intercepted an unidentified ship in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (off the west coast of Vancouver Island and Washing State). Apparently no shots were fired in securing control of the vessel and none of the 76 unidentified male migrants aboard the rusty freighter (known as the MV Ocean Lady) were injured during the incident.  

On Saturday afternoon, October 18, under tight security provided by two RCMP vessels Higgitt and Lindsay, the frigate HMCS Regina, together with an RCMP Emergency Response Team trained in maritime intervention, and a Canadian Forces navigational and safety crew on board the ship, the vessel and its passengers were brought into Ogden Point Terminal in James Bay, Victoria, B.C. Within a matter of hours, the passengers believed to be from Sri Lanka, were shielded from public view and quickly transferred to an undisclosed location (later revealed as a provincial correctional facility) where passengers were examined by medical personnel, provided with a meal and clothing. The following day, under tight security, they boarded two blackened window buses onto a B.C. Ferry to secure facilities in the Lower Mainland. The individuals are now undergoing an examination process to determine their identity and to assess whether they are eligible to enter Canada legally under the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (which permits granting refugee protection to persons who are displaced, persecuted or in danger).  

The Province newspaper editorial on October 20, 2009 posed an important question, "We need to know what's going on".  

While the incident became public knowledge on October 18, few details such as who, what, where, when, why and how  -- remained a mystery cloaked in layers and layers of we can't or we won't answer that question.  

• Why did Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) officials go to great lengths to shield the faces of the passengers from both the media and onlookers?   

• Why were officials reluctant to offer any details about who owned the ship, how long it was at sea, where it originated, or what languages the passengers spoke, as well as where and how long the passengers would kept in Victoria?  

Ten years ago, more than 600 desperate, malnourished, and poorly-clothed Chinese migrants without legal papers arrived in three derelict ships off the west coast of Vancouver Island were intercepted by civilians who notified the RCMP and Natural Resources officers. The Chinese "boat people" were then escorted by Canadian Forces personnel to CFB Esquimalt where they were detained for a number of months while Immigration authorities tried to determine their identities and status. There was little or no difficulty obtaining information about what was happening at that time, and what has happened to many of these economic migrants in the intervening years.  

Why the cloak of secrecy? Exactly what threat (criminal or security) do these individuals pose because they arrived in Canada in an unconventional fashion that would warrant this kind of behavior from officials? What is really behind this adventure on the high-seas involving alleged well-financed queue-jumpers, shadowy global human smugglers, suspect terrorist arms dealers and defeated separatists who were part of a vicious civil war on a tiny South Asian island? Who stands to benefit from this incident?