The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ROYAL Bahamas Defence Force Commodore Raymond King said just the presence of Royal Canadian Navy vessels off the coast of Haiti will hopefully act as a deterrent to stem the migration flow.

Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, announced last month that the country will deploy navy vessels to conduct surveillance, gather intelligence and maintain a maritime presence off the Haitian coast.

However, the deployment will not be used to intercept migrants trying to flee the country.

Asked about his thoughts on Canada’s vessels and if they would be helpful for the region, Mr King said: “I try to shy away from those sort of qualitative political assessments other than to say I welcome our international partner.

“We partner with the Canadian government, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, they provide us satellite imagery of our banks in terms of maritime … So we have a very good relationship with Canada, but we welcome because in the end, it acts as a deterrent and just the presence of their vessels will act as a deterrent to hopefully stem the migration flows.”

When it was mentioned that the navy ships will not be intercepting migrants, the RBDF chief said: “It’s a matter of deterrent and then they will be in a position to provide information and intelligence to all of us in the region.”

Labour and Immigration Minister Keith Bell revealed on Wednesday that more than 500 irregular migrants have been apprehended in the last month.

Mr King said a number of Haitian migrants have been trying to get to the US from Abaco or Grand Bahama.

“So, the migration flows are still there but we are doing our part to ensure that no migrants land in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to add the legacy issues that we would have experienced for the past six, seven decades.”