An immigration hearing for a Tamil migrant the federal government claims poses a risk to Canadian security was postponed Tuesday, to give his lawyer more time to look into the allegations against him.
The man, who was among nearly 500 Tamils who arrived off the British Columbia on the MV Sun Sea in August, appeared before the Immigration and Refugee Board in a makeshift hearing room at a provincial jail in Maple Ridge, B.C.
A federal government lawyer was prepared to present evidence that the man should be declared inadmissible to Canada on security grounds that could include terrorism or war crimes.
If the allegations are accepted by the board, it would put a stop to his refugee claim and likely lead to a deportation order but the hearing was rescheduled to give his lawyer more time to comb through what she described as a mountain of documents.
Ottawa has yet to say what the specific allegations are, but government lawyers have cited two sections of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in their case against him.
One deals with people who have engaged in terrorism, human rights abuses, genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity. The other applies to a person who is a member of a group that engages in terrorism, espionage or has attempted to overthrow a foreign government.
The arrival of two ships carrying ethnic Tamils over the past year in British Columbia has raised the question of whether some of the migrants could be members of the banned terrorist organization the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE lost a 26-year civil war against Sri Lanka’s government last year.
Immigration and Refugee Board member Geoff Rempel ordered the man to remain in custody until at least his admissibility hearing.
“The minister’s arguments were that you’re now facing an admissibility hearing; the outcome of that hearing may affect your eligibility to make a refugee claim,” Rempel said through an interpreter as the man sat in red jail garb with his eyes fixed on the floor.
“Therefore, if released from detention, you would have no motivation to show up to attend that (admissibility hearing).”
The man was one of 492 Tamil men, women and children from Sri Lanka who arrived on the rusty cargo ship last summer seeking refugee status.
They were initially held in provincial jails in the Vancouver area, but under federal law they must be released once their identities have been established, unless they pose a security or flight risk.
About 170 have already been ordered released by the refugee board, although the federal government has successfully challenged a number of those releases in court.