Today from the archives we go back to 1997 and a discussion of a major local and national news event.
In 1996, the Maersk Dubai container ship arrived in Halifax, and with it came reports from Filipino crew members that officers had forced three stowaways overboard to their death while at sea. Four of the men who came forward to police went on to live in Halifax while their families back in the Philippines were harassed and threatened in an effort to prevent them from testifying against the officers. Meanwhile, the federal minister of Citizenship and Immigration at the time was being asked to step in to grant the men refugee status which had been previously denied. It was a major moment in Canadian immigration history.
The CKDU archives presents here a recording with a member of "The Concern for Seafarer Witnesses Society" - a society set up to aid the four sailors in Halifax and their families. This interview took place on CKDU on December 8th of 1997 just two days after a march through downtown Halifax to show public support.
