Boat People

by Sharon Bala



 This the story about a boat of Sri Lankan refugees that arrives on the Canadian coast with people seeking refugee status.  Normally Canada has been considered very considerate to refugees but this time the government seems to be taking a tougher stand, concerned that Tamil terrorists might be trying to get into Canada.

The main character in the story is a Sri Lankan man Mahindan who is on the boat with his six year old son.  When they arrive in Canada M's son is taken away from him as Canadian's want to settle the men away from the women and children.  He and his son are distraught by the separation.
Other characters include a young articling lawyer, Priya who really wants to get into corporate law but because she is of Sri Lankan descent she is brought in to help another lawyer defend some of the refugees.  Her boss assumed that she would be able to speak Tamil or Sinalese.  She really resents that she is taken away from her corporate assignment.

Another character in the story is Grace, a woman of Japanese descent whose parents and grandparents were interned in Slocan during WWII.  Grace's mother has early stage dementia has become obsessed with reclaiming the family home that was taken away from them.  She also is active with other internees in trying to get a government apology.  Grace has been given a political appointement by an MP to serve as a Refugee judge.  While her mother is going over all the family suffered Grace is being fed suspicion and negative feelings towards the Sri Lankans by her patron.  The officials are especially suspicious because they find identity papers left on the boat for people who are not part of the refugees.

Priya's family escaped to Canada during one of the difficult times in Sri Lanka.  Her family has not wanted to talk about it and they have discouraged her from associating with other Sri Lankans saying they will only be trouble.  Her uncle is living with Priya and her father and brother.  There is tension between the two men, Priya isn't sure why.

The story weaves between life in Sri Lanka for various of the characters and the lives of the refugees in Canada and the Canadian characters.  We find that the hearings are being dragged on much longer than usual because of the goverment and citizen paranoia.  We learn that Mahindan's wife died in childbirth and about the terror of living in Sri Lanka and how they fled for their lives as the army advanced on the Tamil area.  Mahindan was a mechanic who was forced to repair Tamil Tiger vehicles but he only did it so they would not force him to join the Tiger army.  There may have been occasions when he attached a bomb to cars so they could be used for explosions. As he is trying to get away he starts to pick up identify papers from dead people and also money he finds on the body.  To make some money for his passage to Canada M sells some of the identify documents to fellow aspiring refugees.

The refugees are going through their hearings but many are being delayed for months.  Some people manage to get passed the initial survey and released from detention to await their refugee hearing.  Grace is especially harsh on the people brought before her, justifying it to herself that she is protecting Canada.  She turns back M several times.  At one point M's room mate in detention goes for a hearing and the Border Services people say that they have identified him as a major Tamil Tiger.  The man denies it but it sentenced to deportation.  The man is so despondent he kills himself.
M is devastated that the man killed himself, he feels guilty because this man was one of the people he sold identity papers to.  The man's story is written up in the paper and public sympathy seems to swing in favour of the refugees.  M is further upset because his son has been removed from the detention centre and put in the care of a foster family.

As the book proceeds we find Grace's Mom continuing to rant about the injustices done to the Japanese and urges Grace not to repeat history.  Grace resists her urgings.  Her mother keeps stressing that the family went along with the treatment without complaint and then just got on with living once they got out.  They were afraid to complain and didn't think it would do any good.  At one point Grace and her mother go back to the family home as it is on the market.  The mother is dismayed that the place has been renovated so much she can't even recognize it.  She seems to realize you can't recapture the past.

Priya is getting emotionally invested in her work, she often take's M's son to visit him.  She visits some of the refugees who were allowed to enter Canada.  She is surprised to find that her father and uncle are volunteering to help the Tamil refugees by donating household goods and clothes and helping to teach them English.  Eventually Priya's uncle tells her that he became a Tamil Fighter but was a coward when it came to seeing a fellow soldier killed by Indian soldiers brought in by the SR govermnment to help fight the Tamils.  He tells her he felt he had no choice but to fight and that he was fighting for their rights.  But after the incident with his friend he got out of the country.

As the book ends Grace might be softening her stance a bit, Priya is offered a job in the Corporate section of her law firm but asks to stay with the refugee work.  M is going in for a hearing yet again.
His lawyers are telling him to be optimistic.... will he be successful?  Given how the country has treated him and his son... not sure...

This was a very difficult book to read but it was brilliantly written, giving us so many people's lives and experiences. It wrenched your gut on many occasions, as we learned how people suffered, shared memories of the past and had to live with the decisions they made, including those that unintentionally harmed other people.