VOA标准英语2010年-Vancouver Activists Rally in Support o

The Thai cargo¹ ship MV Sun Sea arrived on Vancouver Island in Canada last month, carrying nearly 500 Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka. They claim to have faced murder, kidnapping and extortion back home and are now seeking refugee status. The Canadian government has detained the refugee seekers while it determines whether they are a security threat.

About 40 activists² banged drams, clanked pots and pans, blew horns and made as much noise as they could. They wanted to get the attention of about 90 Tamil women and children detained inside the Burnaby Youth Custody³ prison, located about 300 feet away.

Why should they stay?

 

 
VOA - Z. Baddorf
Activists blow horns, beat drums, shake tambourines⁴, and make noise to show their support for the Tamil refugees.
Fathima Cader was at the rally. Now a law student at the University of British Columbia, she was born in Sri Lanka, but left with her parents when she was two years old. Cader has lived in Canada for about 10 years and took the Canadian citizenship⁵ test last week.

She says the Sri Lankan government devastated⁶ the Tamil areas of the country and now those people who were displaced have "nothing much to go home to."

"Your entire town has been demolished⁷ and there have been claims that after the war it's become safer," Cader said, "but actually what we're finding is that disappearances⁸ which have been really really common during the war -- Tamil men would just randomly⁹ disappear and their bodies would appear afterwards -- continue to occur now."

Cader says the Sri Lankan government is still targeting Tamils.

And, she says the Canadian government is targeting the Tamils, too -- detaining them after their arrival from Sri Lanka because of their race.

What Canada has done

Canada has granted refugee status to more than 40,000 Sri Lankans, in the past two decades -- rejecting only 20 percent of those applying.

Canada's public safety minister told reporters that Canada has been "very welcoming" of refugees but says officials must protect the nation from criminals or terrorists. He says the refugees' voyage was organized by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Sri Lankan separatist group. The Tigers have been considered a terrorist group by many nations and are banned from entering Canada.

Cader is not convinced that the refugees are a threat.

"I'm not sure what we're investigating when we talk about a 15-year-old," Cader said. "Or, as most of the children in the jail currently are between the ages of two and ten."

Despite multiple attempts, both the Canadian Ministry¹⁰ of Immigration and the Canadian Border Services Agency declined interview requests. But the border agency did issue a statement to Voice of America saying every person seeking to enter Canada must follow the same rules and regulations and that all the refugee seekers who arrived on the Sun Sea will go through security and criminal checks.

According to a spokesperson for the border services agency, "the safety and security of all Canadians is a priority."

Innocent until proven guilty

But the organization No One Is Illegal says the Canadians should consider the immigrants innocent until proven guilty. One of the group's organizers, Harjap Grewal, says Canada has been prioritizing trade with Sri Lanka instead of demanding that the island nation improve its treatment of Tamils.

"We've seen over and over again that governments prioritize economics and their economic interests and it often sidelines the very basic justice for most people around the planet," Grewal said.

Grewal says the economic opportunities for Western countries in Sri Lanka come at a cost.

"It comes at a cost of human beings," noted¹¹ Grewal. "And, it comes at a cost of the oppression that the Tamil community has faced. So we've naturally seen very similarly these migrants that have come here, the refugees that have come here, they're being denied access.

What the refugees are saying

The refugees were charged $40,000 to $50,000 each to make the voyage. Through the Canadian Tamil Congress, the refugees issued a statement saying they underwent "severe hardships" with little or no access to basic necessities like food, water, medicine and sanitary¹² facilities during their four months at sea coming from Sri Lanka to Canada.

The Canadian government is considering increasing penalties for human smugglers and potentially banning smuggling¹³ ships from entering Canadian waters.

Canada's immigration minister is in Melbourne to meet with his Australian counterpart to discuss human smuggling. Minister Jason Kenney says Canada intends to work at home and abroad to "combat the crime and fraud associated with the treacherous¹⁴ journey some immigrants make to Canada."

Passionate¹⁵ protesters

 

 
VOA - Z. Baddorf
A young boy bangs a pot lid atop his father's shoulders at a rally in support of newly arrived Tamils from Sri Lanka.
Back at the rally in Vancouver, the activists play Tamil music from an iPhone, through two speakers and a mixer powered by a portable generator¹⁶. They hold a large red banner that reads "We Welcome You. We Support You" in Tamil. Children inside the detention¹⁷ facility can be seen looking out at the demonstration¹⁸.

Several protesters verbally abused the driver of a Vancouver City police vehicle entering the detention facility.

The activists demand the immediate¹⁹ release of all the refugee seekers. But the Canadian Border Services Agency told Voice of America that the refugees will remain in detention until the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada completes its review.

Latest developments

However, some of the immigrants are being taken out of jail.

A pregnant woman was the first of the refugees to be released from detention, last Monday. She was let go with her three children. The country's independent Immigration and Refugee Board decided²⁰ to release another four female migrants from custody. But the government appealed to Canada's Federal Court about their release. On Friday, the court ordered the government to let them go free while they await hearings on their refugee applications.

Canadian officials believe there is a possibility that more ships will head to Canada from Sri Lanka. He told reporters the Sea Sun may be seen as a "test ship."
 

1 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

4 tambourines   

n.铃鼓，手鼓( tambourine的名词复数 )；（鸣声似铃鼓的）白胸森鸠

参考例句：

• The gaiety of tambourines ceases, The noise of revelers stops, The gaiety of the harp ceases. 赛24:8击鼓之乐止息、宴乐人的声音完毕、弹琴之乐也止息了。 来自互联网
• The singers went on, the musicians after them, In the midst of the maidens beating tambourines. 诗68:25歌唱的行在前、乐的随在后、在击鼓的童女中间。 来自互联网

5 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

6 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

7 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

8 disappearances   

n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案

参考例句：

• Most disappearances are the result of the terrorist activity. 大多数的失踪案都是恐怖分子造成的。 来自辞典例句
• The espionage, the betrayals, the arrests, the tortures, the executions, the disappearances will never cease. 间谍活动、叛党卖国、逮捕拷打、处决灭迹，这种事情永远不会完。 来自英汉文学

9 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

10 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 sanitary   

adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的

参考例句：

• It's not sanitary to let flies come near food.让苍蝇接近食物是不卫生的。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

13 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

14 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

15 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

16 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

17 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

18 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

19 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

20 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。