VANCOUVER: A federal immigration panel has acknowledged the legitimacy of refugee claims by some Sikhs who arrived on the shores of Nova Scotia in 1987 allowing them to apply immediately for permanent residence.
The Canadian government has previously been reluctant to say anyone from India which is often described as the world’s largest democracy could be a refugee. External Affairs Minister Joe Clark intervened directly in at least ‘one case to dissuade the Immigration Department from granting refugee status to a person from India.
However some of the so called ‘Sikh boat people caught in government efforts to clear a backlog of 85,000 applications have been officially told that they have a credible basis to pursue claims as refugees.
The move by the Immigration panel caught the Indian government by surprise. Aloke Sen a spokesman for India’s High Commission office in Ottawa said India had not been informed about the progress of the refugee claims.
“We do not consider them as refugees. We think they are economic immigrants from India,” Mr. Sen said.
A group of 174 Indians, mainly Sikhs, came ashore early on June 12, 1987 near the tiny fishing village of Charles Ville, N.S. Everyone in the group, which had traveled on a freighter from the Netherlands, applied for refugee status.
Brian Dougall manager of the backlog clearance task force, said the Immigration Department has so far dealt with only five refugee claims,
A two member panel made up of an Immigration Department adjudicator and a Refugee Advisory board representative found that three people had a credible basis to pursue a claim and two claims were refused, he said.
The backlog clearance process allows them to apply immediately for landed immigrant status without a full hearing to classify them formally as refugees, he added.
Mr. Dougall also said that some of the group has left the country and many claims are still in the process of determination.
Paramijit Singh Nijjar, 39 said in an interview at the offices of the World Sikh Organization in Vancouver that he was told earlier this month he was accepted in Canada as a refugee.
Mr. Nijjar, 40 said he left India in February 1983, more than a year before the area exploded in violence fed by religious based conflicts and militancy in support of the creation of an independent country for Sikhs, to be called Khalistan, However, tensions had been mounting in the region since 1978.
He said he left after police repeatedly threatened him for preaching about the Sikh religion and Khalistan. Police never detained him, although he feared that he would be arrested if he stayed.
Mr. Nijjara member of the militant All India Sikh Student Federation that has been linked to terrorism said he has not seen his wife and two children who are now 12 and 14 since he has escaped from his village of Bharsingh Pur in Punjab.
He went to Cairo and Turkey before settling for three years in Lebanon. Finding life in Lebanon more difficult than in India, he moved to West Germany. However the West German government announced plans to deport several Sikhs from the country.
Mr. Nijar said he arranged to come to Canada before the West German government moved to deport him back to India.
He recounted the difficulties of the 14 day voyage to Canada on a small damp cargo ship from the Netherlands. The group came ashore and stayed until daybreak in the forest. In the morning they started walking along the highway, hoping to find a town.
Military personnel eventually took them to Halifax where Mr. Nijjar said they were treated very well. Eventually he was brought to Vancouver.
He has been serving as a priest at a Sikh Temple in Duncan, B.C., on Vancouver Island for several months; Mr. Nijjar said he continues to preach in favor of Khalistan.
Joginder Singh Bains who sponsored Mr. Nijjar said he knew nothing about the preacher when he agreed to sign a $2,500 bond.
“It was blind faith. They put a paper in front of me and I just signed it. I did not know what kind of person he was. I’m lucky he is a good guy,” said Mr. Bains, a farmer in the Chilliwack area.
In Toronto Mohinder Singh Gill and another person were found to have a credible basis for their refugee claim.
Frank Maddock, a spokesman for West Coast Immigration Consultants Ltd., said Mr. Gill also a member of the All India Sikh Student Federation was detained and tortured by Indian authorities in 1985. He was in the hospital for six months after being beaten and went into hiding when he was released. He fled the country shortly afterwards.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 5, 1990
