So Cousin Eddie and family blow into town unexpectedly, then take off for parts east, never to return -- leaving you wondering how to dispose of the clapped-out RV they abandoned in your driveway.
Which is the issue for Ottawa as it figures out what to do with the MV Sun Sea, the Thai cargo ship that brought 492 Tamils to Victoria on Friday.
The migrants might have been moved to the mainland, but the Sun Sea -- a.k.a. Harin Panich 19 -- remains tied up at CFB Esquimalt's D jetty, over on the Colwood side. The sa国际传媒 Border Services Agency isn't saying what its plans are for the 59-metre vessel.
Don't hold your breath. Ten months after the seizure of the first ship to bring Tamil migrants to Victoria, the authorities have yet to dispose of that freighter -- or charge anyone with smuggling the 76 people on board.
The Ocean Lady (at least, that was the name painted on the hull of the former MV Princess Easwary) was escorted to Ogden Point last October. It remained there until the end of March when, with cruise ship season looming, it was moved out of the way. The vessel now rests at the federal Public Works Department's base at Annacis Island in the Fraser River. Border Services says the Ocean Lady will remain in government care until a legal decision is made concerning its ownership.
The law gives the agency a variety of options in dealing with such vessels. Both the Customs Act and Immigration and Refugee Protection Act allow the seizure of ships (or trucks, or planes, or whatever) used in human smuggling. Admiralty law allows the Federal Court to order the arrest and sale of a ship. The Seized Property Management Act lets Public Works take control of vessels used in crimes.
The thing is, the laws aren't really built to dissuade large-scale migrant-hauling operations where the profit dwarfs the value of the seized boats -- and if rumours of the 492 Tamils paying $40,000 or $50,000 a head are true, that's a human cargo worth $20 million or so.
More often, the law deals with stowaways or crew members jumping ship and claiming refugee status, says Vancouver's Thomas Hawkins, vice-president of the Canadian Maritime Law Association.
When that happens, the ship owner must put up a security of up to $50,000 before the vessel can leave port. The cost of dealing with the would-be refugee -- including, potentially, deportation -- gets subtracted from the security. It can be pricey, which is why ships' owners spread their risk by pooling together in self-insuring "clubs."
It's unlikely the Sun Sea is in such a club. Nor are the owners likely to put up a security that could, in theory, approach $25 million. Good luck finding the owners, period, whether they be Tamil Tigers or Florida Panthers.
"The government owns that ship now," says Hawkins. For the smugglers, walking away from the Sun Sea or the Ocean Lady is just the cost of doing business. It's not as if the vessels are worth a fortune at auction.
Note that after four Chinese migrant-smuggling ships were seized off our coast in 1999, Ottawa sold the rusting remains to the Alberni Reef Society for a mere $1,000.
Three were scuttled as diving reefs, but only after vandals sank two of them off Port Alberni's Harbour Quay, forcing a refloating operation.
The fourth ship was resold to a pair of brothers for $1. Alas, it sank while tied to a navy buoy in Barkley Sound, and ended up being refloated at a $100,000 cost to the taxpayer. It was being towed to Ladysmith as scrap in December 2003 when it sank once again, coming to rest 45 metres down off Cadboro Bay, where it remains today.
Four boats. Seven sinkings. The Chinese migrants are lucky to be alive.
The Sun Sea appeared in better shape than those boats. Still, it's a 30-year-old ship that spent its life shuttling cargo between Thailand and other countries in the region. The smaller Ocean Lady is 20 years old.
Not much of a price for smugglers to pay when compared to the millions in profit. With no one facing criminal charges, why would they stop?
Meanwhile, sa国际传媒 gets left holding the empty can.
