Ottawa sends 13 to Myanmar
Saskatoon man avoids same fate as other claimants
Saskatoon resident Nay Myo Hein was able to avoid deportation to Myanmar during the weekend due to a last-minute intervention by a pair of federal government ministers, but more than a dozen others have not been so fortunate.
Responding to a StarPhoenix request made on Thursday, an official with the Canadian Border Services Agency said 13 refugee claimants during the past five years have been deported to Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said in an e-mail Monday a blanket suspension of deportations to Burma is "not warranted."
The number alarmed the group Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB), which was not aware anyone was being sent back to live under a military regime repeatedly condemned by Canada and other nations.
"We had no idea. Hearing that is quite shocking, quite disturbing," CFOB board member Kevin McLeod said in an interview.
"We don't think anyone should be deported to Burma. It is an arbitrary, unfair place."
Last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had harsh words for Myanmar's leaders after opposition leader and Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to another 18 months of house arrest.
"Canada is appalled by the ongoing repressive actions of the Burmese regime and its continued disregard for the fundamental freedoms and basic human rights of the people of Burma. We have imposed the toughest sanctions in the entire world against the regime to protest its treatment of its people," Harper said in an Aug. 11 statement.
"We will continue to stand with the people of Burma and insist that their human rights be respected and their voices heard."
That position was repeated in a StarPhoenix interview Sunday with Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. Kenney said it would not be safe to send Hein back to Burma, in part because of the large amounts of publicity the case generated. The regime may have taken note and targeted him because of it, Kenney said.
McLeod said the CFOB is grateful to Kenney and Van Loan for their intervention Saturday to save Hein from deportation. The CFOB, Amnesty International' s Canadian section and others believed Hein would have been jailed, tortured or executed if returned.
But McLeod wonders how the Canadian government could have deported the 13 other people.
"These people need protection," McLeod said.
McLeod would like to know if the Canadian Border Services Agency or any Canadian official is following up to ensure these 13 people are safe. Canada has no embassy in Myanmar. The closest Canadian ambassador is in Thailand and has been barred from entering Myanmar in the past, McLeod said.
Van Loan, whose responsibilities include the Canadian Border Services Agency, said in his e-mail the Canadian government "has been clear and consistent in condemning the Burmese regime for its repressive actions."
Van Loan said the issue of deportation to Myanmar "is always under consideration, " but there are no current plans to place the country on Canada's "temporary suspension of removals" list.
"There are many situations where potential political persecution is not a risk. As such, a blanket temporary suspension of removals is not warranted," Van Loan said.
"While removal of some individuals to Burma would be unsafe, those cases can be dealt with on an individual basis."
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