Federal court orders Tamil migrant to remain in custody

I'm not a Tamil Tiger – I only played one in the movies, an MV Sun Sea passenger essentially told border officials soon after arriving in Canada.

The man, one of 492 Sri Lankan Tamils to enter British Columbia on the ship last August, has been ordered to remain in custody by the Federal Court. The Immigration and Refugee Board had ordered his release but the court recently overturned that decision, ruling it was made in error.

The man – whose name cannot be published and is referred to in court documents as B157 – told the Canada Border Services Agency in September that he was only a fisherman.

He later changed his story and acknowledged he had acted in a film that promoted the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a terrorist group banned in Canada. The man told border officials the film was funded by the Tamil Tigers and said he received a great deal of praise for his work.

Several of the man's other comments also raised CBSA's suspicions. The man said he had been paid by the Tigers as an athletic instructor and supported their cause. Some of his relatives also fought for the group.

The man initially told CBSA he didn't owe any money to the smugglers who organized the MV Sun Sea's journey. He later acknowledged that wasn't true.

Despite the inconsistencies, the refugee board ordered the man released in November on a $1,000 cash bond. The adjudicator said at the time he was unsatisfied by CBSA's argument that the man was a flight risk and unlikely to appear fo [...]