Some of the migrant Tamil children who braved a cargo ship to make their way to Canada have been put in the care of British Columbia's children's ministry.

Migrant mothers have also been taken into care, said Canada Border Services Agency spokesman Rob Johnston.

"We do our best to not separate families," he said Saturday. "However, there may be circumstances where that's not possible to maintain. I can't go into any further detail than that."

CTV's Janet Dirks reported that about 50 women and 50 children are being cared for.

As of Saturday afternoon, authorities had processed more than 450 of the reported 490 Tamils who arrived at port near Victoria on Friday morning. An exact number won't be released until all the migrants are spoken to, the CBSA said.

Meanwhile, Tamil advocates say that they will offer the migrants all the support they need to start the next chapter of their lives.

Sarjuan Kanapathipillai of the Canadian Tamil Congress said the past generosity and support that Canada has shown to its refugees has grown proud citizens who build new lives in their new surroundings.

He expects that the Tamils who landed here at the start of the weekend will do the same.

"We've always been giving to the refugees that come here and as a result, they grow towards this country and there is an affinity towards this country and a love formed for this country," Kanapathipillai told CTV News Channel on Saturday.

"A lot of the refugees from the past are contributing members to the society and we see this as being no different."

He said the Canadian Tamil community will work with the migrants "to help them through the system, let them see what the country has to offer and what has enabled us to be so successful."

In a separate interview, Canadian Tamil Congress spokesperson Manjula Selvarajah said the incoming Tamil migrants will have to work their way through the same challenges that any other refugee group faces in Canada.

"If you look at the numbers of asylum seekers that come to this country from a variety of countries, it's in the 20,000 to 30,000 range," Selvarajah told CTV News Channel by telephone from Toronto.

And when they get here, "they start businesses, they do the menial jobs and they work their way up," she said.

The MV Sun Sea carried nearly 500 migrants to Canada during a three-month voyage that began in Thailand.

After being escorted into CFB Esquimalt on Friday afternoon, the migrants were able to step onto land for the first time in months.

Kanapathipillai said the people who made it to Canada are fleeing a situation that they will do anything to escape from.

"To think that a mother or a father would have to put their child through this really speaks to the deplorable conditions in Sri Lanka," he said.

"As a mother or a father, I can't imagine what would drive me to the point to put a child on a boat for three to four months, it shows what they are running away from."

While there have been some fears that some members of the MV Sun Sea could be human smugglers or even members of the Tamil Tigers, Kanapathipillai said Canadian authorities will deal with them accordingly.

"As Minister (Vic) Toews said yesterday, we will be assessing them on a one-by-one basis, and from there on, the people that are the smugglers or any elements that are not desired in this country, those members will be prosecuted in accordance to the law," Kanapathipillai said.