Canada, as everybody knows, is a land of immigrants. Why then, given this reality, did a recent Angus Reid Global Monitor poll find that 63 percent of Canadians who were asked believed that the MV Sun Sea, the ship carrying 492 Tamil migrants, should have been sent right back to Sri Lanka from whence it came?

Claire Hoy Critics of that view, of course, claim that it’s racism, pure and simple.

Apparently, they believe , that there is no valid reason to oppose illegal immigration, so they opt to smear the majority of Canadians by accusing them smear the majority of Canadians by of holding vile opinions about their fellow humans.

This is not an unusual tactic. Witness much of the criticism levelled at Arizona for its’ law giving authorities the right - a right already enshrined in U.S. federal law, by the way - to demand valid papers from people who are caught committing criminal acts.

McGuint y tr ips u p Arizona h as been sta mpeded by illegal immigrants from Mexico. U.S. President Barrack Obama - like George Bush before him - has essentially ignored what is a serious problem of human trafficking and drug smuggling, so Arizona decided to act on its own. And rather than deal with the arguments pro and con intelligently, the critics have accused Arizona - much as they are now accusing Canadian concerned about the Tamil influx - of racism, of being anti-immigrant. In both cases, some people seem blithely ignorant - or maliciously ignorant - of the difference between legal immigration and illegal immigration. That’s the issue here, not immigration per se.

You will know, of course, that the MV Sun Sea - which we’re told cost some passengers up to $45,000 to be on - arrived in British Columbia Aug. 12 under the watchful eyes of Canadian navy and immigration officials.

The passengers - some of whom are suspected of being members of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) a terrorist organization, and surely the ones behind this ship’s arrival - are currently undergoing medical and identification checks to determine the legitimacy - or not - of their refugee claims.

The day after they arrived, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he considers the MV Sun Sea a “test boat” - with more on the way if this ploy works - adding, “This particular situation is being observed by others who may have similar intentions and I think it’s very important that Canada deals with the situation in a clear and decisive way. I don’t view this as an isolated, independent act.”

A few days after that, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, “I think Canadians are pretty concerned, when a whole boat of people comes, not through any normal application process, not through any normal arrival channel, and just simply lands. And obviously this leads to significant security concerns.”

Exactly. The biggest mistake, people will say, is allowing them to land here in the first place. One they get their foot in the door, our system can take years - at huge public expense - to decide their fate.

But that’s the fault of our activist Supreme Court, thanks to an earlier decision which found that anybody coming to our shores - regardless of the circumstances - is to be afforded the same rights and privileges as Canadian citizens. We’re likely the only country in the world where this is true and it does make one wonder about the value of citizenship, if anybody who happens along becomes a defacto citizen.

It is no surprise that the Tamil Tigers decided to send people to Canada. They know they wouldn’t get past the outer harbour anywhere else. They also know - much to our shame - that during the long, bloody war with the Sri Lankan government, which the Tamils ultimately lost, Canada was the source of much of the Tiger’s funding. (By the way, for all those painting the Tamils as the innocent victims of the war, these are the people who invented suicide bombing of innocent civilians, among other things. But we digress.)

It is doubtful any other country is more generous than Canada in helping people who are truly in distress. One manifestation of that attitude is that Canada continues to be at or near the top the world rankings when it comes to allowing outsiders to move here and create a new life for themselves. But it’s one thing to help those who need it, it’s quite another to be taken advantage of, which is what the Tamil organizers behind this incident are hoping to do.

That’s what gets up our collective noses.

If they truly qualify as refugees in need, let them apply through proper channels just like everybody else, rather than jumping to the front of the line because a)-they had the money to buy their passage on this ship and b)-they’re skilled at the political game of putting us in a no-win situation.