Croatian war criminals may be entering Canada

by The Canadian Press — July 16, 2009

OTTAWA -- Border officials warned earlier this year that Canada would have to be on guard for war criminals trying to get into the country, after the Conservative government ended visa requirements for Croatian citizens.

The government in March lifted the contentious visa requirement after heavy lobbying by the Croatian government and Croatian-Canadian community.

It is feeling similar pressure from Mexico and the Czech Republic for suddenly slapping visas on their citizens this week, in response to the large volume of refugee claims from those countries.

In the case of Croatia, a visa requirement was applied in 1996 to counter the threat of war criminals coming to Canada after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

An internal intelligence report, prepared for the Canada Border Services Agency shortly after the visa requirement was ended, notes that Croatia passed an amnesty law in 1996 affecting approximately 14,000 people who had been involved in armed aggression and conflict.

"Notwithstanding this law, there will still be a need to screen Croatian arrivals at ports of entry to determine whether individuals are inadmissible for having committed or being complicit in war crimes or crimes against humanity," says the report.

The document, dated April this year, was released to The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

Those concerns were echoed in the changes to immigration regulations published in March.

 

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Source:CTV