Immigration Minister Slammed for “Abuse of Process” Over Tamil Migrants

Two refugee claimants who arrived aboard the MV Sun Sea last August remain in custody despite orders for their release.

Appeal, appeal, appeal. That seems to be Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s plan to deal with at least two Tamil refugee claimants, and he has no apologies for it despite the fact that a judge said the tactic could keep them in jail forever. Justice Edmond Blanchard said that the government’s decision to repeatedly contest the release orders for two Tamil migrants imprisoned in B.C. is exploiting a legal loophole and amounts to “an abuse of process.” The court found that one of the claimants was a Tamil journalist and ordered him released in November. The government appealed but although the release order was upheld, the government simply appealed again. Ninety-five of the 492 Sun Sea migrants remain in custody.