ENTRY, EXIT LAXITY AIDS POT OPS, CRITICS SAY

A lack of checks at Canadian entry points and almost non-existent exit
controls help spawn the growth of large-scale marijuana grow
operations in Manitoba, critics of Canada's immigration policies claim.

They also say organized crime takes advantage of Canada's liberal
immigration policies to sneak people into the country for criminal
purposes, many under guise of declaring refugee status.

"Our Immigration Department is a real mess," said John Thompson,
president of the Mackenzie Institute, a Toronto-based think-tank that
studies terrorism, political extremism, warfare and organized crime.
"These people will get into trouble in Winnipeg, but they'll just
disappear and show up again somewhere else."

"It means we're letting in people who don't belong," added Martin
Collacott, a former Canadian ambassador to Middle East and Asian
countries and a senior fellow at Vancouver's Fraser Institute, which
examines economic and social issues. "Crime pays, the way we do things."

In the past six months, police in Winnipeg, Ottawa, Calgary, Toronto
and Vancouver have dealt with a rising number of cases involving
indoor marijuana grow operations that they claim are linked to
Asian-based organized crime.

The loosely connected groups allegedly peddled marijuana and other
drugs throughout North America, then laundered the illicit funds back
to Canada and Vietnam through both real and fictitious companies.
Critics such as Thompson and Collacott say the increase in "grow ops"
tied to Asian crime shows that the federal government has to impose
more rigorous entrance and exit controls so authorities have more
power to follow up on people coming into Canada.

Currently, there are more than 30,000 people on the Canadian Police
Information Centre database wanted on warrants for immigration
violations. Most often, they are caught only when police arrest them
on other matters or on routine traffic stops.