Members of the Tamil-Canadian community say the suspected Sri Lankan migrants waiting for detention hearings in British Columbia have risked their lives to come to Canada for a better life.

Seventy-six, mostly young men remain in custody at the Fraser Regional Correctional Center in Maple Ridge, B.C., days after they were found on board a vessel that was bound for shore.

The Immigration and Refugee Board has said that the hearings for at least two of the men who have sought counsel will be made public, though the media will not be allowed to publish any information that would identify the men or their families.

Ottawa has not officially identified the men as Tamils, though Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan has suggested they are migrants from Sri Lanka and the RCMP have confirmed that the force has been in contact with Sri Lankan authorities. The Canadian Tamil Congress has also suggested the men are Tamils, based on their style of dress.

It is believed that each of the men likely paid thousands of dollars to smugglers, so that they could catch a ride aboard the Ocean Lady -- the ship that was seized by the Canadian Navy.

Vancouver businessman Roy Ratnavel said he went through a similar experience in 1988, after fleeing persecution in his homeland.

Ratnavel, 39, left Sri Lanka after he was thrown into jail as a teenager.

"I went to a prison that was nicknamed 'Meat Shop,'" Ratnavel told reporters at a Vancouver news conference on Tuesday.

"So you can take that and imagine it in your head. I'm not going to go into all the details because I don't want to relive those moments."

Young Tamil men are often jailed and tortured, Ratnavel said, because they are considered prime recruits for the decades-long fight against the government that raged in Sri Lanka until earlier this year.

When Ratnavel was let out of jail, his parents put him on a plane bound for Vancouver so that he could claim refugee status.

"The two days after I arrived in Canada, my dad was shot dead in front of my mom," Ratnavel said.

Ratnavel said that young Tamil men are still being killed in the country where he grew up. He wants Ottawa to give the would-be migrants the help that they need.

"This country gave me a second chance at life and these men are doing the same thing," Ratnavel said.

Tamil lawyer Gary Anandasangaree said it is extremely difficult for Tamils to legally enter Canada, because of federal rules for Sri Lankan immigrants.

"Sri Lanka is not recognized as a source country and therefore an individual of Tamil origin who wants to apply for refugee status is not able to do so from within Sri Lanka and this is probably an opportune time for Canada to reflect on that policy," he said.

"It can take up to four years for applications to be processed and when people find themselves in dire, dire situations given the calamity that's taking place in the last several months we certainly appreciate people wanting to flee that scenario for immediate safety."

At the same news conference, Canadian Tamil Congress spokesperson David Poopalapillai said that Canada is "a compassionate country not only for Tamils, for many, many immigrant groups around the world."

The would-be migrants in B.C. have also won the support of the Canadian Chinese National Council.

CCNC spokesperson Sid Tan said he hopes Canada will remember its past when handling the case involving the 76 men in B.C.

"I would just like Canadians to understand that we should not repeat the mistakes of the past," he said, referring to 150 Sikh men who were sent back to India months after their boat arrived on the West Coast in 1924.

Additionally, Tan said Ottawa should take advantage of community groups who are willing to help out.

"Coming to Canada can sometimes be a very difficult and arduous process and sometimes also fraught with discrimination and racism. And I would ask Canadians to be compassionate, to allow the process to work itself out," Tan said.

Hundreds of thousands of Tamils remain in camps in Sri Lanka today, and the Canadian Tamil Congress says the oppression they are currently facing is going underreported because journalists and United Nations observers are not being allowed in.

Ratnavel said it is "shocking" that Canada maintains a diplomatic relationship with the Sri Lankan government.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger and files from The Canadian Press