Immigration Minister Jason Kenney speaks during a meeting in Paris with his European counterparts on Sept. 6, 2010.Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has been holding talks in Melbourne with Australian officials on how to deal with human smuggling.
They also discussed how both countries might jointly warn potential migrants of the dangers of relying on smugglers, particularly by sea.
Mr. Kenney, who is on a fact-finding mission to help shape Ottawa's promised crackdown on ships full of asylum-seekers arriving on Canada's shores, is scheduled to meet with his Australian counterpart Chris Bowen on Monday.
He noted that while it may not be possible to completely eliminate human smuggling, there are actions that can reduce its frequency.
The Conservatives plan to kick off the fall session of Parliament with a new package of rules for migrants, aimed at preventing more shiploads from targeting Canada.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has told his cabinet to find ways to make sure there would be no repeats of the incident in August, when almost 500 Tamils entered Canadian waters off the coast of British Columbia - the second ship in less than a year.
Critics say Canada already has the tools it needs to deter human smuggling, but just needs to apply them more aggressively.
Mr. Kenney said Friday he hoped to learn from Australia's ups and downs in confronting human smuggling, rather than emulate its policies.
Australia detains illegal migrants arriving by sea, at times keeping them on remote islands and then sending them to other countries before they can have a refugee hearing.
But the controversial practice has not been much of a deterrent, and both main parties in Australia's recent election campaign promised to look for better solutions.