VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Canadian navy Thursday boarded a cargo ship carrying 490 asylum-seekers, including some people Canada has said may be terrorists.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said the vessel MV Sun Sea has declared them to be refugees. But he said the government has concerns that there may be members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Tamil Tigers, on board. Canada has labeled the Tamil Tigers a terrorist group since 2006.
The ship, which was off the coast of Vancouver Island, was traveling slowly through fog. The government has been preparing tents on seaside military facilities to house the people from the ship, and jails have been warned they could receive new inmates.
The MV Sun Sea reportedly approached Australia a few months ago, but the vessel either was turned away or feared it wouldn’t be allowed to dock and sailed toward Canada. The Canadian government is worried more ships are on the way.
Canada is home to about 300,000 Tamils, the largest such population outside Sri Lanka and India. But Canada is worried it’s getting a reputation of being too receptive.
In October, a ship carrying 76 Sri Lankan migrants was intercepted in Canadian waters. The group claimed to be fleeing persecution.
All of the men were detained, but most were let go within weeks or months. The only one who had remained in custody on suspicion of being a Tiger has since been released.
The Tigers fought a civil war for a quarter of a century in Sri Lanka seeking a state independent of the ruling Sinhalese majority. The Sri Lankan conflict ended in May 2009 after a massive government operation against the Tigers.
