OTTAWA - The tone of public discussion about the arrival of hundreds of Tamil migrants by sea last year was "regrettable," a federal advisory panel quietly told the government.
The uproar prompted members of the Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security to recommend the Conservatives clarify for Canadians the differences between immigrants and asylum-seekers, newly obtained documents show.
Roundtable members want Canadians to realize that not everybody who shows up "is necessarily illegal or a queue-jumper," said lawyer and teacher Leo Adler, a member since the body's inception six years ago.
The Public Safety Department, the ministry responsible for the roundtable, could not say what had been done in response to the recommendation.
A boat carrying almost 500 Tamils turned up in waters off Vancouver last summer -- the second such ship in less than a year -- igniting a heated public debate.
The Conservatives swiftly denounced the ship's arrival, ushering in legislation that would allow the government to detain migrants it classifies as "irregular" for up to a year. The bill would also impose tougher penalties on human smugglers.
Critics accused the government of overreacting to the ship's arrival, noting refugee claimants routinely turn up at Canadian ports of entry, just in smaller numbers.
Minutes and notes obtained under the Access to Information Act show the matter stirred discussion at the meeting of the cross-cultural roundtable in Montreal last November. The 15-member federal body, which represents various communities, acts as a sounding board for the government on security issues.
"Members thought that the public discourse surrounding the arrival of migrants on vessels in Vancouver was regrettable, and recommended that the government should clarify for the Canadian public the differences between immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers so they better understand the entry system to Canada," say meeting minutes.
Participants emphasized that a refugee is "generally in fear for their life," so cannot necessarily apply to come to Canada in the same way an immigrant does.
"What we're saying is there could be, and there should be, a better educational process for people to understand the many ways that people can come to Canada," Adler said Wednesday in an interview.
"And most of them in fact are perfectly legal ways."
The fact that Public Safety Minister Vic Toews -- not Immigration Minister Jason Kenney -- was the chief cabinet spokesman upon the arrival of the vessel MV Sun Sea last summer "speaks volumes," said Hussein Hamdani, a roundtable member who came to Canada as a child refugee from Uganda.
"I think it would've made more sense if we just continued with this under our immigrant-refugee process as opposed to putting the veil of national security on these issues," he said Wednesday.
"When we frame these refugee matters in the vocabulary of national security, there will automatically be a reaction in the mainstream Canadian population against those very people who are coming -- because they're just seen now as threats.
"Why? Because Public Safety Canada is intervening."
Hamdani said new Canadians generally understand the nuances of the immigration and refugee system, while many whose families have lived here for generations do not realize what asylum-seekers go through.
"You don't have the luxury of having all your documents in chronological order, spellchecked perfectly. You're often jumping from country to country, fleeing with a shirt, a couple of pairs of pants and a pair of socks, let alone any other paper or documentation," he said.
"It doesn't mean that we just allow anyone to come here anytime they want, however way they want. There is a process and we have to recognize that. But sometimes extraordinary circumstances will force people to take extraordinary means."