Canada

MV Sun Sea passenger loses refugee status after court denies his claim that Sri Lanka could falsely link him to Tamil rebels

The Federal Court of Canada has overturned the refugee status granted a passenger aboard a smuggling ship linked to Tamil rebels, just as the refugee board extended protection on the same grounds to a Tamil passenger of a second smuggling ship, highlighting the difficulty in handling the two highly publicized mass arrivals.

The overturned decision involves one of 492 Sri Lankan Tamil migrants who arrived aboard the MV Sun Sea in 2010; the newly granted asylum decision involves one of the 76 aboard the MV Ocean Lady in 2009.

In both, the men had been accepted as refugees under claims that publicity connecting the ships to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam placed all passengers at risk in their homeland by mere association. The court’s rejection of the claim could impact other cases still pending.

In the Sun Sea case, the IRB had accepted the 26-year-old Tamil man as a refugee even though he was not believed to be involved with the LTTE; just being on the ship could lead to persecution, the board said.

The government appealed the decision to the Federal Court and Justice Paul Crampton accepted its objection.

“A group of people who have decided to travel to Canada on a particular ship,” is not “fundamental to a person’s basic humanity,” wrote Justice Crampton, and did not qualify as what are called “refugees sur place,” meaning those not refugees when they leave their homeland but become refugees through the circumstance of their case.

The claimant’s testimony, that he had previously been questioned by Sri Lankan officials about possible links to the LTTE and released, is evidence that the government knows he is not a hardcore member of the LTTE, the judge said.

His case was sent back to the IRB for a fresh hearing.

Justice Crampton made his decision Nov. 19 but it only disseminated publicly on Monday. The outcome contrasts with another IRB decision made Oct. 16 but released only last week.

If he were to return to Sri Lanka, he is afraid that … he would be subject to torture, death, and having his body thrown into the river

The second case involves a 24-year-old Tamil who arrived aboard the MV Ocean Lady, which officials identified as a rebel arms smuggling ship.

IRB adjudicator Trudy Shecter accepted him as a refugee on the same grounds that Justice Crampton rejected.

“If he were to return to Sri Lanka, he is afraid that the government would know or quickly learn, possibly from the Canadian government, that he travelled on the Ocean Lady and he would be subject to torture, death, and having his body thrown into the river,” her decision says.

She found no evidence he was involved with the LTTE.

“I find, however, that the claimant’s profile changed when he chose to board the Ocean Lady, a ship that has been suspected of carrying LTTE members into Canada,” she wrote.

The government is reviewing the IRB’s decision, said Alexis Pavlich, spokeswoman for Jason Kenney, Minister for Citizenship and Immigration.

(The National Post)