Immigration adjudicators and federal judges at odds over question on migrant ship refugee claims

Douglas Quan
Published: February 26, 2013, 6:22 pm
Updated: 15 hours ago

They made their journey on the MV Sun Sea together. But is every passenger from the ship that carried nearly 500 Tamil migrants to Canada in 2010 at risk of persecution if sent home because of the vessel’s links to the Tamil Tigers rebel group and their own notoriety?

Canada to extradite LTTE suspects to US

Saturday, 15 December 2012 01:21

Canada’s Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Canada can proceed to extradite two Sri Lanka men the United States has accused of involvement with the Tamil Tigers, which waged a bloody war for independence in Sri Lanka and is considered a terrorist organisation by Washington and Ottawa, reuters reported.
Piratheepan Nadarajah was alleged to have tried to purchase surface-to-air missiles and AK-47 assault rifles for the Tamil Tigers from an undercover officer posing as a black-market arms dealer on Long Island, New York.

Her parents, Kairun and Mohamed Shabdeen, believe Canada offers her a better chance of a decent life than Sri Lanka, the country to which they are about to be deported.

Autistic girl’s future up in the air as family set to be deported from U.S., refused entry to Canada 
GLORIA GALLOWAY 
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Dec. 28 2012, 10:06 PM EST
Last updated Saturday, Dec. 29 2012, 8:08 AM EST

Sabreena Shabdeen’s family has an awful choice to make. If she is returned to Canada next week, it will be without the parents who have been her supporters, caregivers and advocates since she was born in Toronto 17 years ago.

Sabreena is severely autistic. She can barely speak and, according to medical reports, is prone to “aggressive, agitative and assaultive” behaviour. But she is a Canadian. And her parents, Kairun and Mohamed Shabdeen, believe Canada offers her a better chance of a decent life than Sri Lanka, the country to which they are about to be deported.

Ragu Kanagalingam, 26, received gifts from the Santa Claus Fund as a kid in St. James Town. This year, he decided to become a volunteer himself.

Santa Claus Fund: Budding engineer gives back
Published on Sunday December 16, 2012

SUPPLIED PHOTO
Ragu Kanagalingam, 26, received gifts from the Santa Claus Fund as a kid in St. James Town. This year, he decided to become a volunteer himself.
Laura Kane
Staff Reporter

As a boy growing up in St. James Town, Ragu Kanagalingam didn’t know much about Christmas.

His parents had emigrated from Sri Lanka when he was a toddler, and the tree-decorating, carol-singing and stocking-stuffing had always seemed foreign. And since money was tight, big gifts were out of the question.

Friends of the Sri Lankan family said seven people lived in the dwelling.

5 hospitalized after Scarborough house fire 
By Irene Thomaidis ,Toronto Sun 
First posted: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 07:00 AM EST | Updated: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 09:20 PM EST
Paramedics rush a child to hospital after he was rescued from a burning home on Canlish Rd. (VICTOR BIRO/Special to the Toronto Sun)

TORONTO – Heartbreak gripped an east Toronto neighbourhood where fire ripped through a home as three generations of family slept inside.

Five residents were taken to hospital – two in serious condition and one clinging to life Tuesday after Toronto firefighters rescued them from the burning bungalow on Canlish Dr., in the Birchmount Rd.-Lawrence Ave. E. area.

Friends of the Sri Lankan family said seven people lived in the dwelling.

Most Sri Lankan Tamil migrants from MV Sun Sea await decision on refugee claims
By Douglas Quan, Postmedia News October 30, 2012

The MV Sun Sea cargo ship brought 492 Tamil migrants to the B.C. coast in August 2010. Everyone subsequently filed refugee claims.
Photograph by: MCpl Angela Abbey, Vancouver Sun , Postmedia News

More than two years after a boatload of hundreds of asylum-seeking Sri Lankan Tamils arrived on the West Coast — sparking a vow by the Harper government to crack down on what it called immigration “queue jumpers” — the vast majority of the migrants remain in Canada waiting for decision on their refugee claims. Two have been removed from the country.