Treat Tamil asylum seekers by the book

 Jason Kenney told reporters the Harper government is determined prevent the appearance and reality of maintaining a two-tiered immigration system--one for those who play by the rules, the other for illegals who attempt to sneak in. "We need to do a much better job of shutting the back door of immigration for those who seek to abuse that asylum system."

Most citizens will heartily agree with that sentiment. As well, in this particular case, the sense of injustice and annoyance is magnified by the fact the Tamils who arrived via the battered Ocean Lady apparently paid the notorious human smuggler "Captain Bram" $45,000 to reach Canadian shores.

Clearly, the location--thousands of kilometres from their island homeland in the Indian Ocean--is no coincidence. Canada possesses one of the world's largest Tamil communities outside Sri Lanka. The obvious inference is that the asylum seekers reckoned Canadian Tamils would help facilitate entry into a country known as friendly, welcoming territory.

Australia has had serious problems with Bram - actually an Indonesian national named Abraham Lauhenapessy - smuggling paying Tamil customers down under, to the point that Labour Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has flown to Jakarta to try to sort out the mess. At the moment, Lauhenapessy, who served two years in an Indonesian prison and faces up to 20 more in an Aussie jail, appears to be in custody in West Java. In a joint Indonesian-Australian agreement, two ships containing over 300 asylum-seekers (and Captain Bram) are or soon will be confined to port.

That alone might well stem the tide of would-be Tamil refugees for now, especially if Lauhenapessy is extradited to face Australian justice. But then, the conditions in Sri Lanka that created business opportunities for the smugglers continue to exacerbate the situation. The Sinhalese Sri Lankan leadership - which finally triumphed over the Tamil Tigers in an extended, bloody civil war - had promised to quickly free some 250,000 Tamils held in appalling detention camps, winnowing out the most dangerous Tiger hardcore types from civilians. But the process has become bogged down, with few reductions in recent months.

As well, the Sri Lankan equivalent of our War Measures Act remains in force, which also complicates matters by giving the state extraordinary powers, still exercised at whim on occasion. Still, it's important to remember that both sides of the conflict engaged in horrific acts. And it's not much of a stretch to imagine some of those landing on the shores of Canada and Australia are militant Tamils with a grudge, in search of a safe haven. Canadians have been there before, as combatants from other lands have settled here, bringing ancient psychic baggage along with them. The Air-India bombing remains an indelible stain on the national consciousness, and we don't want to see it happen again.

On the other hand, neither should the Canadian government be allowed to manipulate human tragedy in search of popularity points. Like or not, we have - and must have - a process for dealing with asylum-seekers. Their cases must be dealt with individually and fairly, whether they paid criminals to reach our shores or not.

As to the refugee process, it should be smart, compassionate, stern and speedy, cutting out the poseurs from those genuinely at risk of persecution.

Minister Kenney has said that the interminably clogged system is being streamlined and reformed under his watch. Here, we will have an opportunity to see to what degree that noble aim has been achieved. But it has to be by the book - the Canadian way - not the hammer.