The Canadian Council for Refugees has called ‘more consistency in Canada’s response to the serious human rights abuses that continue to occur in Sri Lanka’, as evidence of asylum seekers being deported to torture has surfaced.

Applauding Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent statement on Sri Lanka, particularly the noting of “absence of accountability for the serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian standards during and after the civil war is unacceptable”, CCR called for this approach to be congruent.

The statement read,

“On the other hand, CCR is shocked by Canada’s treatment of Sri Lankans who fled to Canada to escape those human rights violations, most particularly those on the MV Sun Sea who arrived on the West Coast in August 2010.”

CCR also noted a recently disclosed memo from the Canada Border Services Agency, calling on its officers to “use all legal means to detain the passengers as long as possible, to try to have them declared inadmissible and to argue against them being recognized as refugees”.

See the memo here.

Recalling the recently exposed case of Sathyapavan "Sathi" Aseervatham CCR went on to say,

“Did the Canadian government share the names of the Sun Sea passengers with the Sri Lankan authorities? He was subsequently called in by the Sri Lankan authorities (the Terrorist Investigations Division) who allegedly interviewed him about the affidavit in the presence of officers of the Canada Border Services Agency. Did the Canadian government share a confidential affidavit alleging torture to the very authorities alleged to have committed the torture?

"The CCR calls for an investigation into these questions. The CCR notes with regret that the Canada Border Services Agency has no external complaints mechanism, meaning that formally there is no one to investigate such allegations other than the CBSA itself.”