The president and past federal candidate of a British Columbia Liberal riding association has compared the Conservative government's plans to target human smuggling to collaboration with the Nazis.
The comparison comes as the government said it is considering ways to increase penalties against those convicted of human smuggling, as well as barring ships from entering Canadian territorial waters.
In a blog post titled "An Evasion of Duty," Ron McKinnon, president of the Port Moody–Westwood–Port Coquitlam Federal Liberal Association, writes that the Conservatives plan to work more closely with foreign governments such as Sri Lanka to stop boats like the MK Sun Sea at the source.
"This brave new policy is sordidly familiar, akin to collaborating with the Nazis to stop the flight of Jews," McKinnon wrote.
"So they propose to stop on the high seas vessels carrying such persecuted souls, and turn them back well before they get to Canadian waters; if we build the wall high enough, and make it impossible for refugees to actually get here, we can bask in our warm pious glow and never have to actually face them."
He also wrote Canada has "no credible argument" that the case of the Sun Sea involved illegal entry, illegal migration, trafficking or smuggling.
The Conservative government has been floating the idea of new laws since the arrival of the Sun Sea in Victoria on Aug. 12. All 492 people on board have requested refugee status in Canada.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has said there was "certainly a possibility" of other vessels from Sri Lanka coming to Canada and reiterated investigators' suspicion that the Sun Sea was a "test ship" to gauge the Canadian government's response.
In his post, McKinnon wrote that the Conservatives "bullheadedly insist upon framing the whole debate in terms of terrorism, human trafficking, and human smuggling — so they can swagger and talk tough about 'law and order.'"
As a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees, Canada is obliged not to send migrants who have reached Canada's territorial waters back to their own country if they face persecution there.
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1985 that all people in Canada were protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The ruling gives asylum-seekers who enter Canadian territory the legal right to a refugee status hearing before facing potential removal from the country, provided they are not deemed a threat to public safety.
