32 more foreign fugitives sought by Ottawa

CBC News
Posted: Aug 18, 2011 8:00 AM ET
Last Updated: Aug 18, 2011 11:08 AM ET

The federal government is seeking the public's help again in its hunt for people wanted on immigration warrants, focusing on 32 foreign fugitives believed to be in the Toronto area.

"They abused a valued privilege and are no longer welcome in our country," said Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, launching the Canada Border Services Agency's new website to identify non-Canadians convicted of crimes in Canada and subject to removal orders who have since disappeared.

Toews announced the latest list Thursday in Toronto, accompanied by his parliamentary secretary Candice Hoeppner, the parliamentary secretary to the defence minister, Chris Alexander, and the president of the Canada Border Services Agency, Luc Portelance.

The 32 people on Toews' new list are in addition to 30 suspected of war crimes that he named in late July, when the Canada Border Services Agency launched a website identifying the suspects and calling for any information that could lead to their whereabouts.

Toews said Thursday that eight of the original 30 named on the website now have been found. Six were arrested in Canada and three have been deported, while two more were located outside Canada.

"The success was greated than I'd anticipated," Toews said.

On the first website, the names and photographs of the 30 men are accompanied by a statement that reads: "It has been determined that they violated human or international rights under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act or under international law."

The second website launched Thursday is a list of individuals inadmissable to Canada, usually permanent residents who have been convicted of crimes and therefore subject to removal from Canada for breaching their undertaking as permanent residents by breaking Canadian law.

Toews and Portelance explained that once a permanent resident is convicted of a crime and has served his or her sentence, if the Immigration and Refugee Board does not grant a detention order within 48 hours, the individual may be released on a bond. At this stage, some individuals disappear and cannot be located by the authorities for removal from Canada.

Toews said the individuals on the new list were permanent residents of Canada, many of whom have lived in Canada for decades and may have come to the country as young children. The CBSA is targeting individuals convicted of serious crimes like murder, sexual assaults and drug trafficking.

This list targets only a few of the estimated 1400 individuals in the Toronto area, and approximately 2700 individuals nationally who are currently wanted for removal from Canada.

"They will find no haven on our shores," Toews vowed.

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