From page 1 cal group. “What’ 's happened in Canada is that we've stretched that definition ... to include almost anyone with a problem,” he said. “We do feel sorry for them but we can’t solve all the world’s social problems. “The purpose of Canada’s refugee determination process is not to right another country’s wrongs, not to provide better employment and education oppor- tunities or a higher standard of living.” Collacort believes one of the major ; drawbacks of the current system is that it * coddles illegal refugees by providing free legal services and health care coverage while they await the hearing process. He cited the four boattoads of Chinese tefugees that landed in the Province last year as a prime example. “They were headed for the United States,” he said. “The evidence was that nonc of them intended to claim refugee status here and in fact, : none of them had ever heard of refugee status. Nevertheless, we put them into a system. which encourages them to claim refugec status. “We're going to get more and more refugees try- “ing to get in here because we have the most attractive : Package i in the world.” .“,Collacort estimated the cost of processing those refugees zo be around $40 million — a pricey propo- sition considering only 2% have been granted immi- NEWS photo Julie Iverson FORMER Canadian ambassador Martin Collacott address- ing Thursday night’s annual genera! meeting of the Canadian Association for immigration Reform, which was held in North Vancouver. t status. “Perhaps that's indicative of how many of these people actually have a good refugee claim,” he said. Collacott is also worried that Canada's lenient immigration and refugee policies might provide an ideal home base for terrorist organizations looking to launch forays into the United States. He mentioned the December arrest of Algerian Ahmed Ressam, who was caught smuggling 3 a trunk full of explosives into Washington state from Canada. Ressam has been linked to Saudi terrorist Osama Sunday, April 2, 2000 - North Shore News - 9 # Collacott Says system needs overhau bin Laden. Collacott served as director-general for secu- rity services and helped determine counter- terrorism policy for the then-federal depart- ment of external affairs in the late "80s. He said that the “Tamil Tigers” —~ a pro- independence guerrilla terrorist group oper- ating in Sri Lanka — is also establishing itself here in the form of street gangs in Montreal and Toronto that funnel criminal proceeds back to their homeland to fund a civil war there. And while the U.K. only accepts about 9% of Sri Lankan Tamils that apply for status, and the U.S. about 15%, Canada welcomes 99% into the country — about 60 a° week, Collacott said. “And there's only going to be a greater surge in those claimants as other countries start cracking down,” he said. Collacott also shot down several myths about immigration, namely that the process served to improve the economy, reduce unemploy- ment and help populate vast, empty areas of the Canadian landscape. “We've got vast, empty spaces but that’s not where people go,” he said. “They come into major metropolitan areas where the infrastructure is already heavily-laden.” External immigration accounted for 83% of the pulation growth in the Lower Mainland from 1991 to 1996. The new federal immigration legislation is expect- ed to be tabled in the House of Commons this week. services Society tics) for 12 ears. The Myrtle Park drop-in ‘400 sq. ft. (37.2 sq. m) addition to a field house he “built ‘with a°group of parents and voluntects j in 1988, was a afe anid 0. meet- friends and hang out. gh his part-time job asa upervisory:, aide: at “Seycove 0 popular place for kids. Coun. — Ernie Crist. was the only one to oppose — the motion, while Coun. Doug MacKay-Dunn was absent. Supporters of both the SCSS and Johnston packed ‘the council chambers on Monday night. _ Vincent Santacroce, chair of the soci- cety, told -council that the money represented 20% of its entire core funding for youth services... : _ The reduction would mean . cutting, hours of operation at _ the’ Parkgate. Youth Centre and affect several other youth ‘outreach programs. When the 21, count 17,856 .from™ the: ith ‘services: budget of the CSS and ‘give it to Johnston., The nale for the. decisio: yas ‘the. money current! d by the CSS for its you! rk in De ¢ would be - hi skate park opens this summer, he said, it would be difficult to fund ‘more ‘staff hours for supervision. - ‘As a staff report pointed out, the budget cut would -have meant closing the youth : “programs that are. running in Deep... Cove. ie said _ nohineorm ix AKome yee Projet” meet. inp their humps, and we're going to have to tell them that they’re losing their jobs because our budget is cut?” Bur as Coun. . Doug MacKay-Dunn noted in_his motion to overturn the Feb. 21 decision, it went against several district. _ policies. Council should not simply cut money from one agency's budget unless there are signif- icant problems or changes in the way it is run. New funding should only be awarded to a non-profit society which has been active in che district for at least three years, a policy guideline Johnston does not McKay-Dunn also inted out that since the field jouse burned down, there is no place for a program. Council voted unanimous- ly to rerurn the funding to the Seymour Community Services Society and to have staff re- examine Johnston’s request for funding. --4 wine on premise or at home “Save on purchase of wine kit when making a» otter, valid until | Aprit 3¢ 30 2¢ 2000, Net valid with any other me prometional or Funerai held in West Van for two snowboarders. THE funeral for two West Vancouver girls killed in a snow-' Police film to screen tonight THE Vancouver documen- tary Through a bluse lens will be shown today at. 7:30 p.m. at the West Vancouver Baptist Church. The documentary looks at the lives of a few drug addicts in Vancouver’s downtown cast side as filmed by a group of Vancouver City Police offi- cers. One of the drug addicts featured in the documentary was raised = =oin «West Vancouver. Following the hour-long documentary, - Vancouver City Police officers will answer questions and talk about the film’s content. The documentary is a National Film Board pro- duction and comes with warnings about coarse lan- guage and graphic scenes. The event is for adults. - Admission is free. West Vancouver Baptist Church is ' at 450 Mathers Ave. —Anna Marie D’Angelo boarding. accident last weekend was held Thursday at Hollyburn Funeral Home. ¢ bodies of Shkoufeh (Sheekoo) Jalali and Tara Seyed- : Emami, both 16-year-old students at West Vancouver sec- ondary school, were found two kilometres outside the Cypress Bow! ski area last Sunday afternoon. The pair had gone out of bounds while snowboarding, and’ J appear As have slipped and fallen in Strachan Creck. A preliminary coroncr’s report released late Tuesday found . fj drowning to be the probable cause of death for both girls. —Katharine Hamer . 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