The Canadian government is crafting new rules that would treat boatloads of illegal immigrants arriving on Canada's shores differently from other refugee claimants.

The Conservatives are planning to create a new category of asylum seeker “the mass arrival”– to discourage human smugglers such as those who brought 492 Tamils to Canada aboard the MV Sun Sea in August, quoting Canadian government source the Globe and Mail reported.

The goal is to enable Ottawa to detain these migrants longer before being forced to submit them to detention review hearings at the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board.

Dimitri Soudas, the chief spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said cabinet has not made a final decision and so any talk of a plan is speculation.

The changes would allow Ottawa to hold “mass arrival” asylum seekers for up to 14 days before their first hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board, where the government must justify keeping them detained.

That would be a huge change from the 48 hours that such refugee claimants can currently be held before it’s required that their detention review process starts.

The Tories are also hoping to change the rules so the next detention review would take place at 60 days instead of 30 days, as it does under the current system.

These revisions would give Ottawa more time to verify the identities of refugee claimants, including whether they have ties to crime or terrorism.

A government minister is expected to table changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in the weeks ahead.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has promised to make life more difficult for smugglers and those who crew their ships.

He has said he considers the MV Sun Sea a “test boat” to probe Canada’s receptiveness to ship-borne refugee claims – part of a wider human smuggling operation with designs on sending more illegal immigrants to Canada.

An earlier boat, the Ocean Lady, brought 76 Tamil asylum seekers here in October of 2009, reported the Globe and Mail.