The Canadian federal government intends to tackle human smuggling and trafficking as one of its first orders of business when Parliament resumes later this month, stated Toronto Sun in an article yesterday (September 5).

The Canadian government will table legislation to address what a government source described as “a significant safety and security concern,” though the source declined to say how the legislation will address the problem.

The Canadian government is responding to the arrival of 492 Tamil migrants aboard the MV Sun Sea in B.C. earlier this summer.

The migrants are claiming refugee status, a status that appears to be in some doubt after reports that other boatloads of migrants likely to be aimed at Canadian shores were being assembled in Thailand and other Asian ports. This is raising the possibility that those arriving in Canada are not fleeing persecution but are, in fact, economic migrants seeking a better standard of living, the Toronto Sun reported.

“We're concerned that the preparation of additional vessels is underway,” the Canadian government source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The biggest concerns we need to address are human trafficking rings,” he said.

The RCMP, in an estimate published a few years ago, suggested up to 800 people a year are trafficked into Canada, though immigrant groups say that figure is far too low.

Trafficking rings can end up feeding brothels and factory sweatshops with their human cargo.

The Canadian government suspects that the Sun Sea migrants arrived through the efforts of human smugglers who may have been paid thousands for each person on the boat. No one, though, has yet been charged with human smuggling in the Sun Sea case, the article stated.

It’s not clear precisely what the new legislation will do to prevent those who would engage in human smuggling from taking advantage of Canada’s international treaty obligations to accept anyone who arrives on the country’s shores and claims refugee status.

The Canadian government source, who is an aide to an elected official and has some knowledge of the government’s fall legislative agenda, declined to offer specifics about the bill.

Some advocates have suggested that Canada’s human trafficking laws are, sufficient but that the resources the federal and provincial governments devote to investigating and prosecuting human traffickers are lacking.

Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is working on refugee system reforms that would more quickly separate those who are real refugees from those making fraudulent claims, the Toronto Sun further said.

But even with the proposed reforms, a person making a fraudulent claim could stay in Canada for perhaps two years or more.

The Canadian government could also take the politically risky gamble of invoking the “notwithstanding clause” in the Constitution in order to give itself the legal authority to intercept suspected migrant ships before they arrive in Canadian waters or, alternately, to detain refugees who arrive in Canada on ships like the Sun Sea.

Canadian law currently requires that all those claiming refugee status cannot be held or detained while their claim is being processed unless they are known criminals.