Canada and Sri Lanka are to have discussions over the weekend on tackling human smuggling, the Canadian High Commission in Colombo said on Friday.

A High Commission spokeswoman said that Jason Kenney, Canada’s minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism will be in Sri Lanka to discuss Canada’s role in cracking down on human smuggling operations as well as recent changes in the Canadian asylum system.

In August of 2010 a ship with almost 500 Sri Lankan asylum seekers on board reached Canada.

According to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada more than 340 Sri Lankan refugee claims were accepted during the first half of 2010 and less than 13 percent refugee claims from Sri Lanka were rejected during the same time period.

Many Sri Lankan Tamils, most of whom fled the island during the war between the Tamil Tiger rebels and the military, are living in Canada.

Meanwhile as the focus of Jason Kenney’s visit to Sri Lanka remains on immigration related issues, it also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper contemplates if he will attend the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka later this year.

The Canadian government said recently that Harper will not attend CHOGM in Sri Lanka unless there is an improvement in the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.

Canadian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Chrystiane Roy had said that the Canadian government feels the Sri Lankan government continues to fail victims and survivors of the war.

Human rights groups and some foreign governments are calling for an independent international investigation into alleged human rights abuses committed during the final stages of the war between the army and the rebels before the rebels were eventually defeated in May 2009. - Xinhua