November 15, 1999 _ Nigsinre | Over The Edge Page 3

Chinese refugees deserve better, says DARE worker

By John Kennedy

BURNABY, BC (CUP)
- “Send them
home!” was how
many people wel-
comed the 50 or so
Chinese people on a
boat from China’s
Fujian province
this past August
after arriving off
the coast of British
Columbia. Four
boats later, most of
the Chinese
refugees are now
bogged down in the
lengthy legal
process of apply-
ing for refugee
status.

Direct action
Against Refugee
Exploitation
(DARE), a group of
30 women from the
Vancouver area,
has banded togeth-
er to fight the poor

treatment of the
recent Chinese
refugees, and the
way the media has

been portraying
them. “It’s about
taking on some-

thing that’s man-
ageable,” said DARE
Representative
Rita Wong, speak-
ing at Simon Fraser
University. “Given
the climate in
Canada right now
it’s an uphill strug-
ere.”

According to
Wong, the _ boat-
loads of refugees,
while a recent dis-
covery, actually
date back well into
the 1980s. There
are aS many as
500,000 Fujianese
in New York today,
and many in

Stop Feeding the Foxes or
they will have to be shot.

Foxes that have no fear of
humans are a threat to them-
selves and everyone around
them. Rabies shots are not

pretty, people.

Stop Feeding the Foxes or
they will have to be shot.

Toronto as_ well.
“The right to not
move is just as
important as. the
right to move,” said
Wong. “People are
going to migrate,
people are still

going to move.”

Wong says this is
the case because of
the way Canada’s
immigration laws
are viewed over-
seas. The Fujianese
are now in court

applying for
refugee status.
Wong says_ the
whole judicial

process is not act-
ing fairly toward

the immigrants.
“’'m really upset
about what I’ve
seen so far. It

seems to me that
these people are
being railroaded
out, pretty unfair-
ly,” she said.

Wong says that
when refugees
come to Canada,
they generally end
up with one of four
fates. One is that
they stay and are
granted refugee
status. The second
is they are denied
refugee status. In
that case, the third
fate. could be that

their native coun-
try does not give
them travel papers
to come home and
the claimants
remain _ stateless.
The fourth option
is to go  under-
ground.

“I have nothing
against going
underground as
long as there is a
network of people
to support you,”
Wong said.

According to the
Canadian Council
of Refugees,
Germany, the
United Kingdom
and the United

States each receive
more refugee
claims than Canada

each year. The
number of
refugees Canada

accepts annually is
less than a tenth of
one per cent of our
population.

Canada has not
been meeting its
immigration quota
forthe 10° ten
years, so the possi-
bility of immi-
grants overcrowd-
ing. the country is
not as big a prob-
lem as some people
make it out to be.

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Need help with
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B.C. 's Interest Relief

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start in their careers. -

BRITISH
COLUMBIA

Hon. Andrew Petter,
Minister for Advanced Education,

Effective November 1999, B.C.'s new Interest Relief Program

will pay the interest on the loan.

Training and Technology

allows qualifying students to temporarily defer their loan
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e havea monthly family income that makes repaying
loans an exceptional hardship, and/or
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The new B.C. Interest Relief Program is part of British Columbia's
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~~

For more information call !-87 7-BC-Youth

or go to www.youth.gou.be.ca