Old white guy boards plane. Goes to toilet. Emerges mid-flight as young Asian Man.

That’s the story that’s been all over the news around the world. And everyone’s been asking ‘why’?

The Air Canada flight took off from Hong Kong and landed in Vancouver. The man has asked the Canadian government for refugee status.

PostMedia News (formerly Canwest) sent me to the Hong Kong airport to talk to Air Canada travelers on Saturday. Here’s the story.

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Photographs of the Asian man, who got onto a flight in Hong Kong last week while wearing a mask that made him appear to be an elderly Caucasian, have been splashed across TV newscasts and newspapers since news of his stunt emerged.

But on Saturday, lawyer Lee Rankin slammed immigration officials for “parading” his client in front of the media, accusing them of leaking the confidential report about his exploits – and possibly endangering his safety.

“It should be disturbing to Canadians . . . that somebody who’s a potential asylum-seeker should be treated in such a dehumanizing way,” Rankin told Postmedia News.

He said his client is a Chinese national in his early 20s who doesn’t speak English.

“It’s unlikely that this method of concealment and documentation is something he dreamt up on his own,” he added.

“I believe that he had assistance. . . . I don’t want to comment specifically, but 99.9 per cent of people arriving in Canada, particularly by air, they’re relying on smugglers, who basically direct them where to go, provide documentation, tell them what to do.”

The Chinese man boarded the Air Canada flight in Hong Kong on Oct. 29, according a confidential intelligence alert from the Canada Border Services Agency that was first obtained by CNN.

It’s believed he had somehow swapped boarding passes with a U.S. citizen and passenger who was born in 1955.

The young traveller removed his mask during the flight. Upon arriving in Vancouver, he was met by border services officers, and he has now requested asylum.

The incident has put a spotlight on Air Canada’s security procedures, and led to promises of a full investigation from the federal government.

Rankin, however, accused immigration officials of trying to make an “example” of his client.

“I awoke to see this poor guy’s face on CNN with his eyes blacked out,” he said.

“It’s a distasteful form of parading a prisoner who’s completely at the mercy and control of the Canadian government,” he said.

“We would see this in a third-world country.”

Rankin said that any notoriety could have repercussions for the man if he loses his appeal bid and is returned to China, where he could face retribution.

Rankin, who has been an immigration lawyer for 21 years, said he has been speaking to his client through a translator.

He said that while he did not wish to reveal private details of his client, many Chinese asylum-seekers come from the Fujian province in China, an area that sees many political dissidents and Falun Gong practitioners.

Rankin said an asylum-seeker would typically face detention of between a week and a month, while authorities work to confirm his identity and get identity papers from China. At that point, he would be released into the community, while his refugee bid is processed.

“This happens every day of every week in Canada. People are arriving by airplane, our land border, or sometimes by leaky boats. They go through the process of establishing their identity.”

On Saturday, Canadians flying out of the same Hong Kong airport the man departed from expressed everything from admiration to concern over his cloak-and-dagger trip to Canada.

“I think he’s brave. He must have had a reason to do it,” said Ting-hao Hu, 21, who was among those lining up at Air Canada kiosks at the Hong Kong International Airport.

“In my mind, he’s just trying to escape from something or he wouldn’t have done something like that,” said Hu, who is an arts and music student at Carleton University in Ottawa

Paul Bourgeois, a 50-year-old businessman from Moncton, said Saturday he found the entire situation “mind-boggling.”

“There are so many people, so many passport checks at a number of locations,” he said as he waited at the Hong Kong airport. “For anyone to have got through wearing a mask is mind-boggling.”

Security at the Hong Kong International Airport is usually very stringent.

Passengers must first have their boarding passes and passports checked by as many as two guards before they are able to enter the “departures hall.”

Once in the hall, boarding passes and IDs are checked again before passengers walk through metal detectors while hand luggage passes through X-ray machines.

Next, passengers must hand over their passports and stand face-to-face with a Hong Kong immigration official to be cleared for departure -_a seemingly daunting task for someone wearing a mask.

The final check comes at the gate; airline staff members usually ask to see passports in addition to boarding passes.

An airport spokesman declined to comment when contacted.

Travellers said they weren’t overly concerned about security issues raised by the incident.

“I don’t think he was a threat,” said Joel Matlin, president of the Toronto-based home security company Alarm Force. “He wasn’t armed and he wasn’t violent.”

Sheila McFarlane, a retired politician headed home to Vancouver Island, agreed.

“I think it’s a one-off. It won’t happen again,” she said. “If he was a danger in any way, if he was carrying a gun, or a bomb or a knife, then I’d be concerned.”

But Bourgeois, the Moncton businessman, said he was worried that Canadian immigration officials would grant the man refugee status.

“If Canada doesn’t say ‘no’ to this guy, we’re going to be the destination of choice for all people looking to move somewhere else,” he said. “As much as I feel for these people, if Canada is known for having such open doors, then I see serious problems down the road.”

Matlin, from Toronto, agreed.

“Send him back. He should taking the right channels,” he said. “We are a community of immigrants, but we should not give this man special treatment because of his eccentric behaviour.”