Refugees We Say Hello

Like most people in Charlesville, a tiny (pop. 77) fishing community in southwestern Nova Scotia, Janice Hines is usually up shortly after sunrise. One morning last week, however, she rose at 3, awakened prematurely by her dog's barking. As she looked out the window, she saw an amazing sight. There, on the road in front of her house, were dozens of men, many of them bearded and wearing turbans. As she watched in astonishment, they began chanting, "Hello, hello. Refugees!" Recalls Hines: "They were well dressed. They had suitcases, attache cases and plastic tote bags. They looked almost like tourists."

The visitors were not in Charlesville for sight-seeing. Rounded up by police, the 173 men and an 18-year-old woman were Sikhs, members of a minority religious group in India. They were Canada's latest boat people, who arrived seeking to take advantage of the country's liberal refugee laws. Last August two lifeboats filled with 155 Tamils from Sri Lanka were found floating off Newfoundland, having paid for passage from West Germany.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested Rolf Nygren, 47, and Jasvir $ Singh, 36, as they returned a rental car in Halifax. Meanwhile, a Canadian Forces patrol boat, alerted by a Coast Guard spotter plane, overtook and stopped the 497-ton Amelie, a Chilean-registered ship flying the Costa Rican flag that had secretly left the Dutch port of Rotterdam in late June. Canadian authorities were uncertain whether the immigrants, who paid from $1,200 to $2,500 in Canadian funds for the trip, boarded the ship in the Dutch port or were picked up en route. What they did learn is that by taking advantage of fog that blanketed the coast, the ship's acting skipper, Castor Lasalle, had managed to ease the Amelie inshore. After pleading guilty to violating immigration laws, Nygren was sentenced to a year in jail and Singh to three months. Lasalle got a 30-day jail term.

Officials wavered over what to do with the immigrants, who had fled India alleging that the majority Hindus were discriminating against the Sikhs. Many Canadians had been outraged when the Tamils were allowed to remain and applauded a promise by Canada's Conservative government to pass legislation tightening admission requirements for refugees. The bill, however, has not been enacted, and last week's arrivals will be interviewed individually to determine if they are entitled to stay. Because Canadian law allows anyone who claims refugee status to live in the country until all appeals have been exhausted, Janice Hines' early-morning visitors could dwell in Canada for as long as four years even if they are eventually deported.