The Canadian government yesterday reintroduced legislation that aims to discourage ships from arriving off Canada’s coasts crammed with migrants seeking asylum.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Immigration and Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney made the announcement, the Globe and Mail reported.

The purpose of the legislation, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said is to make Canada less desirable as a destination for migrants who sometimes pay tens of thousands of dollars to human smugglers to travel here on unsafe vessels, such as the roughly 500 who arrived on the Sun Sea and Ocean Lady in 2009 and 2010.

But it is also intended, he said, to assure that Canada is taking the steps necessary to control the border at a time when the two governments are negotiating new economic and security agreements.

“We’re doing this for our own reasons, to maintain the integrity of our immigration and refugee systems,” Minister Kenney said. “But there is no doubt it has the added advantage of building confidence with our American friends with respect to continental security.”

Under the legislation, irregular-arrival claimants who do obtain refugee status would be prohibited from obtaining permanent-resident status or from sponsoring family members for five years, and could be returned to their homeland if conditions there improve.
The bill also toughens penalties for human smugglers and for owners of ships who carry human cargo.

In Oct. 2009, the Ocean Lady migrant ship arrived on the west coast carrying 76 Tamil refugee claimants. Earlier this week, four men were arrested in Toronto in connection to that ship.

Last summer, the MV Sun Sea arrived with nearly 500 more Tamils, all seeking refugee status.

The government claims criminal human smuggling gangs are charging upwards of $50,000 for a spot on the boats, and view Canada as an easy target.

The new measures, Kenney said, will deter would-be customers of human smuggling operations.