Now Canada warns illegal Lankan migrants

Priyanka KURUGALA

The Canadian government yesterday reiterated that persons seeking greener pastures in Canada illegally will only be wasting their money since it has taken every possible step with other countries abroad to identify and prevent human smuggling operations targeting Canada.

According to Canadian

Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenny who is on a visit to Sri Lanka, the Canadian law enforcement agencies continue to work with their counterparts abroad to identify and prevent human smuggling operations targeting Canada.

Speaking at a press conference in Colombo yesterday, Kenny said that any person relying on human smugglers to get into Canada will waste their hard earned money.

He said that alert policing and intelligence helped stop a number of such efforts by human smugglers before they could leave port.

The visiting Canadian Minister added that the Canadian government has thwarted plans to disrupt Sri Lankans entering Canada illegally from Thailand and Indonesia during the past two years.

“To prevent ongoing efforts, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced $12 million in funding in March 2012 to help fight human smuggling”, he said.

He was of the view that these projects helped immensely in curbing the human smuggling activities via Thailand and elsewhere in the Southeast Asia.

Minister Kenny added that the Canadian law enforcement authorities have been given more teeth to prosecute individuals who organize, engage in and profit from human smuggling under the new Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act.

“This Act includes new mandatory minimum penalties, up to a minimum of ten years imprisonment for those convicted of human smuggling,” he said.

He added that the Canadian government will strengthen the integrity of Canada’s generous immigration system.

The minister added that he admitted more immigrants per capita than any other country in the world.

The minister added that Canada continues to have one of the most generous resettlement programmes in the world.

“ Canada welcomes approximately one in 10 refugees resettled worldwide through its programmes,” he said.