`Progress in pol reconciliation in Lanka may check migration`

Canada said that repeated cases of illegal migration from Srilanka could be checked with progress in political reconciliation.

Colombo: Canada, a favourite destination for Tamils affected by the conflict in Sri Lanka since mid-1980s, Sunday said that repeated cases of illegal migration from this country could be checked with progress in political reconciliation. "We believe there are a mixture of motivations for Sri Lankans seeking (to move out), one of them probably economic opportunity," Canada`s Minister of Immigration Jason Kenney told reporters here. "But we are also very concerned that in this post-war environment there appears to be growing pressure for emigration from Sri Lanka, whether to Australia, to Canada or elsewhere due to push factors in this country," said Kenney, who is on a 4-day visit here for discussions with Sri Lankan officials aimed at tackling human smuggling. That is why the government of Canada has expressed its "profound concern over human rights violations and lack of progress in political reconciliation in the field of accountability for crimes that have been committed at the end of the war," Kenney said.

Canadian officials said that over 300 refugee claims of Tamils had been accepted in the first half of 2010. Kenney said that Canada would reject applications and send back all who would enter the country illegally. PTI