Around 300-500 protesters in support of the Tamil Tigers descended upon Ottawa yesterday and disrupted traffic for about 8 hours on Wellington street and Queen street.
Though declared a terrorist organization by the Canadian government, members of the Tamil diaspora in Canada showed up by the busload in support of the LTTE and marched between the British High Commission on Elgin street past the Prime Minister’s Office to Parliament Hill. I am told that the Prime Minister could not make meetings on the Hill yesterday because of the protest.
Here, courtesy of Jeff Davis at Embassy Magazine are supporters of the LTTE camped out in front of the Prime Minister’s door.
and on Elgin street (from Flickr)
I found this article from the Mackenzie Institute to be good for background reading on the LTTE, the Canadian diaspora and the group’s claim of genocide. Here are a few excerpts.
1976-1983: Classic Terrorist Group: The LTTE is created and established connections with Middle Eastern terrorist groups and Indian intelligence agencies. It worked to limit effects of liberalizing government policies and to destabilize local areas, encouraging repression by police and military to polarize Tamil society. Terrorist cells evolved into embryonic guerrilla forces. Base organization of Diaspora political front organizations and overseas organized crime by LTTE-related gangs first appeared in Europe.
1983-1987: Classic Guerrilla Warfare: LTTE attacks provoked violent communal rioting by Sinhalese, hundreds of Tamils were killed and tens of thousands displaced inside Sri Lanka. LTTE guerrillas began to engage in conventional warfare with the Sri Lankan Army. The Tigers encouraged refugee emigration into Western Europe, Australia and Canada while using political fronts to tap them for support in their new countries. The Tigers began to destroy rival Tamil militant organizations and absorb other factions.
Genocide, as we have all too often seen, requires much more extensive and enthusiastic massacres than a week of violent rioting 26 years ago. It requires wholesale ethnic cleansing – which is something the Tigers have repeatedly attempted, but not so the Sri Lankan authorities. It requires labour camps and death camps – something that the Sri Lankans have never built. Notwithstanding the events of 1983, Colombo and other Sri Lankan cities have large populations of Tamils who haven’t felt the need to live in fear and apprehension of their neighbours for the past quarter century.
The charges of genocide from the LTTE and their supporters have no merit, and should be immediately ignored whenever they are raised.
Al Qaeda: Besides providing training (presumably on a commercial basis) to a number of member organizations within al Qaeda; the LTTE has assisted members of al Qaeda with false passports and in joint arms purchases before the 9/11 attacks.
Over the decades, the LTTE has frequently pioneered terrorist techniques that have been copied by other groups. These include the suicide belt bomb famously used in the 1991 assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and later to such effect during the Second Intifada by the Palestinians, the use of chlorine tanks in vehicle bombings to generate a gas cloud, later much copied by al Qaeda in Iraq,and suicide speed boat attacks such as were later seen in the attack on the USS Cole. This has led to widespread speculation that the LTTE provides training and instruction for other terrorist groups.
Among the Diaspora, the only organizations that were permitted to exist were at best strictly neutral and non-partisan. However, most were pro-Tiger. Tamils who had left Sri Lanka found that every Tamil cultural body, temple, newspaper, or language and immigration service that they might resort to was pro-Tiger. Being known to hold Anti-Tiger views was to risk ostracism (a severe threat to a new immigrant) or a beating. Trying to avoid paying ‘War Taxes’ meant running the same risks; and could result in penalties to family members still living in Tiger-controlled areas back in Sri Lanka.
Frequently, if the Tiger controlled front organizations needed to make a point, mass attendance at a protest march might be compelled. In recent years, Tamil store owners have been ordered to shut their shops to maximize attendance; and the men used to collect War Taxes might also go door to door in Tamil neighbourhoods ordering people to appear at events. However, as the Diaspora community matured and disappointment with the failure of the 2002 ceasefire grew, a growing number of Tamils started avoiding Tiger events. Legal prohibitions and orders against the LTTE and its front organizations in a number of countries have also encouraged many Tamils to defy these groups.
Click here to read the full article. It’s worth the time.
Stephen Taylor is a scientist, political analyst and a blogger. Taylor writes here regularly and is the founder of bloggingtories.ca. Taylor has contributed to Macleans, CTV, talk radio and has been a featured speaker on new media at numerous events including the Western Standard Cruise and the Forum for Public Policy. In December 2008, Taylor organized Rally for Canada, a series of rallies held coast-to-coast to protest the proposed coalition government.
April 8th, 2009 at 8:33 am
If in fact they are a terrorist organization and deemed as such, they should be identified and put on a plane/boat or whatever and shipped back to their backward homeland.
We don't need the likes of that in Canada. You come here, you leave your problems where you come from – Period!
April 8th, 2009 at 9:11 am
I may have it wrong, but when the Tamils were winning/holding their own in the civil war, kicking the Sri Lankan military’s collective ass. That was okay. Now that the Sri Lankan military is kicking the Tigers asses, now it a problem. When they were murdering Sri Lankan civilians there was no out cry, but now that Tamil civilians are being killed, it’s an outrage. Huh? Why the double standard?
Weather they’re winning the war or losing it, they’re still terrorists
April 8th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Guelphfist, Who do you think the Tamils are? Tamils are also Sri Lankans. Seems like you dont know what's going in Sri Lanka.
Anyone not agreeing with Sri Lankan Government is labeled as Terrorists/LTTE under “War on Terror” agenda whether they are Tamils or Singalese.
April 8th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Please know the facts before talking. Do you even know why the Tamil Canadians are protesting in Ottawa?
Over the weekend the Sri Lankan Army has killed 1000s of Tamil civilians in the safety zone with deployment of poisonous chemical weapons, which was prohibited by international conventions after world experiencing gruesome mass deaths of combatants during the World War I. Weekend alone in the “safe zone” 1000s were killed and now a days they are killing almost 100 to 150 people per day. Quick question for those who are labeling Tamil Tigers as terrorist; what do you call the SL government’s atrocities and violent towards civilians? Tigers are fighting with those who are trying to get rid of the Tamil Community in their own land. But the Sri Lankan army is killing the innocent Tamil civilians by bombing shelling, using gas and other banned weapons. Something to think about, what is the Sri Lankan government doing by having a former LTTE commander in their parliament? Shouldn’t he be punished? Shouldn’t he be in jail serving sentence? Would Canada or USA appoint a former Taliban or Al-Queda terrorist as MP in their parliament? I don’t think I need to say more, you decided whether this war is on terrorism or war on Tamils and who the real terrorist is and who should have been banned by Canadian government. Canadian government should remove the ban against Tamil Tigers and bring economical blockage against Sri Lankan Government.
April 8th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I understand the Tamils were in Ottawa last week and met with Liberal M.Ps in a meeting room of Parliament – invited by a Lib. member (Missisauga East) with a large Tamil Pop. ( One Con was there chair foreign affairs comm.) National Post today blogs has one by Jon Kay about a cartoon from a Sri Lankan defence ministry web site – not very flattering to Liberal party – Blog comments are unbelievable – we have a problem in this country.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:22 am
So, these folks disrupt the lives of innocent citizens in Ottawa for what? As if the Sri Lankan government will bow down and give in to them because they protest in Ottawa. If they're that serious, why don't they go back there and fight for what they want instead of making our lives miserable?
April 8th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Amen, brother.
April 8th, 2009 at 11:27 am
How are the Tamil Canadians making Canadians lives miserable? Please explain.
Tamil Canadians work hard and pay tax just like everyone else in the country. When there is Gay pride, roads are closed, it's ok with the Canadians. When they shut down the highways to bring so called hero on highway for stepping on bombs(not even saving an animal) it's ok. but when Tamils Canadians are protesting; they are making peoples live miserable. Interesting
April 8th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Exactly. That article quoted above says the LTTE provoked the 1983 violence. It fails to mention that similar riots (albeit not on that scale) occurred for three decades before the LTTE were even formed.
April 8th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Their strategy for bringing attention to the plight of Tamils is possibly misguided. They've tried many other options to no avail a these are desperate times.
LTTE suicide bombers primarily attack political and military targets. Not civilian, though there have been collateral casualties. In any case, the LTTE's actions should not detract from the argument these protesters are making.
April 8th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
If you want to protest, fine. Get on a plane and go back over there. I don't want to see this crap on Canadian soil. And while your there, and you are not happy with the results. Then escalate it, OVER THERE! Not here. If you want to live a peaceful life, you are more than welcome to remain here. That is why you came here, wasn’t it?
April 8th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
TamilGal: “Please know the facts before talking. Do you even know why the Tamil Canadians are protesting in Ottawa?”
TamilGal, I don't really care.
I'm a Canadian living in Canada. Canadian politics have nothing to do with Sri Lankan politics and vice versa. Sri Lankans living in Canada are obviously concerned about what's happening in their country of origin, but have absolutely no right to bring these politics to Canadian streets or Canada's Parliament — or to expect Canadians to take these politics on.
I agree with Horatio Dunesbury that these protesters who were blocking the entrances and exits to Canada's Parliament and who held up traffic, should have been arrested. When immigrants arrive in Canada, they need to leave their particular grievances in their country of origin. Certainly, they shouldn't expect Canadians to foot the bill for their demonstrations (police presence, loss of business for those stuck in traffic, etc.) or that our government should be involved in politics “back home.” Canada's now their home — or, if they don't see it that way, they need to go back to the home to which they still feel an allegiance.
By all means help the folks in Sri Lanka if that's what you feel you have to do — and do it legally — but don't ask Canadians who have no connection to Sri Lanka to make sacrifices for your cause or to pay the bills.
April 8th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
You are citing an article as a “good source” from the Mackenzie Institute in which genocide is described as follows:
“Genocide, as we have all too often seen, requires much more extensive and
enthusiastic massacres than a week of violent rioting 26 years ago. It requires
wholesale ethnic cleansing – which is something the Tigers have repeatedly
attempted, but not so the Sri Lankan authorities. It requires labour camps and
death camps – something that the Sri Lankans have never built. Notwithstanding
the events of 1983, Colombo and other Sri Lankan cities have large populations
of Tamils who haven’t felt the need to live in fear and apprehension of their neighbours
for the past quarter century.
The charges of genocide from the LTTE and their supporters have no merit, and should be
immediately ignored whenever they are raised.”
I want to clarify the Mackenzie Institute’s understanding of genocide:
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as:
“any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
A clarification to the Mackenzie Institute and to everyone else: genocide DOES NOT REQUIRE labour camps and death camps. Also this is not a 1-week riot. It has been happening since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948. You do the math! Further, the excerpt states that Sri Lankans have never built death camps. How do you know? How does the Mackenzie Institute know? Are any independent journalists allowed in the safe zones that the government describes as “welfare camps”? Please make well-informed judgement before you or anyone makes bold statements.
Are you aware that the displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka are kept in a wire-fenced area and no one is allowed to leave that camp? The Human Rights Watch at the US Foreign Relations Hearing stated that “even relatives are not allowed to visit them”. Are you telling me that the government is not torturing Tamils? If there were Singalese stuck in these safe zones, do you think they would be using the same blunt force to fight LTTE militants? Recent pictures of dead people from the war zone area have raised issues that the Sri Lankan military is now using chemical warfare to destroy the population in the name of abolishing terrorism!
The Mackenzie Institute article is a very biased publication which does NOT take into account the rapes, the kidnapping and the continuing tortures that the government is inflicting on Tamils or any Singalese who speaks up for Tamils. Please do some more searches why reporters who speak against the government are detained or even murdered. A recent killing is that of the famous journalist, Lasantha Wickrematunga where the government has not taken any actions to find out who killed him. Wonder why?
Please stop calling all of us terrorist supporters when it is not evident that you have read enough to make a well informed judgement on what’s going on in Sri Lanka. As an 8-year old child, I was held at a gunpoint by the army. Instead of shooting me, he decided to shoot my classmate and let me go. If that happened in Canada, we would be frozen with shock and anger.
The defence minister has openly made a remark that Tamils are a minority and we cannot give them equal rights. I wonder how French Canadians would be treated if the Canadian government adopted that same attitude.
Rwanda suffered the killing of 800,000 people. How was the world not aware of this? Why was not much done to stop it? Now movies are made and people wish they had done something to stop it.
Tamils don’t want to be part of history for being abolished by the Singalese – hence we are bringing awareness so that the rest of the world, especially the politicians, would find some kindness in their busy day to at least make an effort to understand what’s going on! The politicians have the power to stop this – hence this rally in Ottawa!
History and its lessons will be repeated until learnt. You have to do more research than reading a few anti-LTTE articles to understand the aspirations of Tamils. Remember the Montreal massacre when a man shot 14 females? All of us still remember that day with sadness. So how is that horrible event any different from the females killed in another part of the world? Children are hung after being shot by the military. Just because someone is not a Canadian does not make his/her life any less-worthy. If Canada had that attitude, then there would be no Canadian peacekeepers!
Sorry for the inconvenience of traffic blocking and not being able to get to work or attend other businesses on time. But the democracy you enjoy in Canada does not exist in Sri Lanka and you can say that it’s not your problem but it is this passive attitude that killed 800,000 people in Rwanda, allowed for North Korea to threaten the world with nuclear weapons and will destroy the Tamil population in Sri Lanka if the world doesn’t do something about this. Instead of thinking from your point of view, think that we are all citizens of the world and if all of us spoke up against injustice, then there may be a chance for a peaceful world!!!
April 8th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Conservatives labled Hon.Nelson Mandela
April 8th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
When there were genocide happening in Germany, Ruwanda or Sudan i did not care much. It was just a news for me and i would have complained about the road closures and the beer is not easily available by then. That was ignorance on my part at that time. When the genocide is happening to my family and friends, i feel the pain now. I know you are doing the same mistake as i did before and it is very difficult to explain to you unless you have the ability to put yourself into that situation. That is why we are trying to bring awareness to the canadian public about our pain as much as we can through peaceful means.
Sri Lankan government killed 99.99 % of the civilians during the civil war but Defenders of the minority tamils from elimination are terrorists and Sri Lankan government who uses every method, including chemical weapons and cluster bomps, to kill the innocent tamil civilians are the saviours of the world !!! Wasn't it obvious as who are the war criminals.
As i am writing to you today Army killed more than 100 civilians and injured more than 200: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/09/sri.... This is the daily occurance at the battle field in Vanni region. While tigers are trying to save the tamil people from getting into the hands of the barbaric army, the UN and some interested powers like to hand over them to the perpetrators of the crime. Myself, lived in sri lanka for 28 years and went through the suffering, knows very well why people don't want to go to the Army's side.
You as a journalist has the duty to bring the facts to the canadian people but hide behind some agenda and spreads the hatred against tamil people and the tigers. What would be the reason ? Why do you hate us so much even when we are in distress you hurt us more and more?
Canada, a true democratic country give tamils an opportunity to bring the facts to the world. We are working hard and will get the Canadian know the facts sooner or later.
April 9th, 2009 at 12:08 am
We've had the same sort of gathering happen over in the UK. The LTTE supporters camped outside the British Parliament for a couple days demanding a ceasefire now that they are finally losing the 25 year civil war. They certainly weren't calling for a ceasefire when they were taking territory from the government (which represents the Sinhalese buddhist majority who have lived in Sri Lanka for thousands of years).
April 9th, 2009 at 3:24 am
In the past few months we have had a few major protests in Canadian cities.First it was the Pro-Hamas and Pro Hezbollah demonstrations,in Montreal-Ottawa-Edmonton -Calgary.
The anti Semitic tide was the jist of these protests.
Now we have the Pro-Tamil Tigers protests blocking the downtown streets of Ottawa,these protests are in their 3 rd day now.
Both groups were always backed in the past by the Grits.Mostly in voter rich 416 and 905 area code!
These groups have been banned in Canada as terrorist groups,Then for the life of me,why are they still allowed to protest under the banner of these groups.
The main line that they give is,they are doing this for their Country ! Well folks I thought your Country was Canada.When you come here,please leave your baggage at the door!
April 9th, 2009 at 4:45 am
Timeline
1948: Independance from Great Britain
1950 : First Singala colonization in the eastern part of the Island
1956 : Singala only Act
1958: Banda-Selva pact signed and abrogated
1958:1st anti-Tamil riots resulted in hundreds of Tamil civilian deaths.
1965 : Dudley-Selva pact signed and abrogated
1971: Ethnic ratio based University standadization program
1977: 2nd anti-Tamil riots resulted in hundred of Tamil civilian deaths
1983: 3rd anti Tamil riots resulted in thousands of Tamil civilian deaths
Current brutal and Genocidial war unleashed by Sri Lankan government in Vanni and the suppression of minority voices with violent tactics against Tamil politicians and journalists in the rest of the country once again exhibited the Singala nation’s lack of empathy to the sufferings of the Tamil population, intolerance to the minority views and political extremism. It shows that Singala nation is willing to use the four pillars of democracy — judiciary, legislature, executive and the press in Colombo to prosecute minorities by all means and undermine their call for fairness and justice ignoring the internationally accepted norms of government with no restraint. The tone and actions of the political and military leaders of the Singala nation after recent military campaign in the Vanni region amply manifests our long held view of the Sri Lankan government and the Singala nation as a whole. That is, in the absence of armed resistance and formidable deterrence, Singala nation will use all its powers to maintain the hegemony of Singala race at the expense of minority rights.
Since the day Sri Lanka achieved independence from the Great Britain, successive Singala powers spearheaded state sponsored colonization schemes to occupy Tamil homeland in the North-eastern part of the Island. Tamil people’s lands were occupied; villagers were chased away from their homes; Tamil names of the villages and the roads were renamed to Singala names; the ethnic population ratio in the eastern part of Island was drastically altered in favour of Singala population. Singala language only policy was introduced in 1958 to downsize Tamils from government jobs in the state controlled economy. The university admissions were standardized by ethnic ratio instead of merit based admission scheme, that favoured the Tamil students.
Having lost their trust in the Singala nation and unitary nature of the constitution, Tamils peacefully campaigned for limited power sharing agreements for North and Eastern part of the country. But any form of public dissent from Tamils was brutally suppressed. Time to time ethnic riots were planned and carried out by Government officials with the support of security apparatus. Tamils’ businesses were destroyed, families were knifed, burned alive and bodies were left on the streets for days. Due to hostile opposition from the Buddhist monks and the Singala masses, even a few power sharing agreements signed didn’t last past even for days. Tamil nation found itself helpless and disabled democratically.
Slowly armed resistance to the Singala nation`s oppression started gathering storm. At this junction once has to realize clearly that Tamils embraced armed struggle only after failing to get any form of self-government from the Singala nation for almost 30 years with non-violent methods. It is the Singala nation, which forced Tamil youths in early 1970s to fight for Tamil rights with arms. The Singala nation has been adapting the same military tactics employed today shamelessly with total impunity for the past 35 years. Until today, nearly eighty thousand Tamil people have been killed at the hands of Singala armed forces; thousands of Tamil homes and businesses have been destroyed and over a million Tamils have reached the shores of the western countries and India as refugees.
In the early days of the military conflict Tamil did not have a voice internationally; our cries and tears never reached outside the Indian Ocean. After the demise of communism, religious fundamentalism once again became the primary concern for the world democracy and civilizations in the past twenty years. With the horrified attack on September 11, 2001, Tamils struggle for equality was bundled into international terrorism. The world governments once again trusted Tamils’ well being with the Singala nation after Sri Lankan government broke the ceasefire agreement signed in 2002 between the then Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. The international community now witnesses the results of its actions in the Island. Once again Tamils have been forced to prove their plight with blood, tears and starvation death to the world.
April 9th, 2009 at 4:59 am
Just wanted to comment on one element of the propoganda you've been reading – the Tamils do have a state it's called Tamil Nadu and it is a state in India. That is the Tamil homeland. A large number of Tamil workers were brought over under the British Raj from mainland India into what was then Ceylon – now they want to keep part of Sri Lanka for themselves.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:05 am
How do they think they wil get our support by holding us hostage??? Why are the officers not doing anything about this? Have they not heard of gas bombs to get ride of these idiotd looking for support by keeping us hostage? they are costing us money, not working and living in our country and f cours us canadians say nothing!
April 9th, 2009 at 6:13 am
RSF: Colombo blocking investigations into Lasantha murder
[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 2009, 09:22 GMT]
Reporters sans frontiers (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Wednesday, accused the Government of Sri Lanka authorities for “blocking investigations into the murder of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga,” and urged Sri Lanka's President Rajapaksa to “assign members of the criminal investigation police to the case and to formally request the help of international experts in solving the murder.” Sri Lanka was ranked 165th out of 173 countries in the Reporters Without Borders 2008 press freedom index, the lowest ranking of any democratic country, the release added.
Full text of the press release follows:
“Disgraceful” failure to identify those responsible for newspaper editor's murder three months ago<SRILANKA_GENOCIDE_AGAINST TAMIS IN TAMILEELAM
April 9th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Last three months Srilankan GENOCIDE Government killed more than 6000 innocent Tamil people (mainly kids and women) and up to now they killed over 100 Thousand innocents. now Srilankan Army (SLA) started to use chemical weapons and last week end the used chemical weapons(UN band chemical weapons ) and killed over 1000 people. are you accepting this. NOW SLA trying to killed 300 thousand innocent Tamils who are in the war zone by use chemical weapons within few days. that's why tamils are protesting and requesting to the Canadian Gov and the World to save them from STATE TERRORIST SRILANKAN GOVERNMENT.
PLEASE UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION
April 9th, 2009 at 6:26 am
He told a Marina beach audience in Madras: “I am told that no such agreement has been signed by any country in the world, at least in this century! It does not have a parallel in the world!”. Absolutely. No other government in the world could have conceived such stupidity. (Readers are requested to please rise up and observe two minutes silence in memory of the agreement).
Mrs.lndira Gandhi was a Prime Minister who learnt politics at herfather's feet, a woman with a clear grasp of issues and the courage of her convictions. Son Rajiv unfortunately, brought from the cockpit of a plane to the serious affairs of a large country's governance, had to depend almost totally on his advisers. Equally unfortunately he selected the wrong kind of advisers, who apparently told him that the job of the IPKF was to disarm “2000 boys” !
THE HINDU which has a habit of over-stretching its journalistic duty, reported as early as July 1988, nine months after the IPKF took on the LTTE, that 2,000 Tigers had been
killed in IPKF operations. So that cancelled the “2,000 boys” that Mr.Gandhi had in mind. Ten years later today, the Colombo Press also gives fancy statistics about Tiger casualties, provided by military spokesmen. There is that frequently quoted and now worn thin saying “Truth is the first first casualty in war”, but why should readers be called upon to put up with a permanent enthronement of falsehood.
April 9th, 2009 at 6:46 am
Nelson Mandela and the ANC were considered terrorists. Today they are the democratically elected government of South Africa and Canada builds numerous schools and roads and names them after Nelson Mandela.
The LTTE has no doubt carried out violence against the South in the 1980s and 90s. However, if one looks carefully at the timeline of events, it has always been in response to Sri Lankan Army's atrocities against Tamil civillians. If you take a look at the last 2 or 3 years, the LTTE managed to fly aircrafts over heavily gaurded air force bases, naval bases etc and dropped bombs on them. If the LTTE is really only interested in terrorist activities, they could have easily flown these planes over rural towns or even a suburb of Colombo and dropped bombs or crashed the planes causing maximum damage to civillians. Why did they not do it?????? It is time that the world realized that LTTE is only interested in safe-guarding the Tamil nation and are not interested in killing Sinhala masses for the sake of killing.
As for the average Canadian, it is easy for you to say to leave our problems behind. The Tamils are grateful to Canada for giving us the opportunity to live here. We work hard, pay our taxes, provide a labour force and invest in the economy. However, we have also left behind many of our parents, siblings, relatives etc. WE CANNOT TURN OUR BACKS ON THEIR PLIGHT. This is not an issue over choosing allegiance to one country. THIS IS ABOUT RAISING AWARENESS TO THE PLIGHT OF OUR FAMILY.
When Hitler was at his prime, Canadians sent our troops to fight him because a lot of Canadians at that time had relatives back in Europe that they cared about. That is the Canadian way – caring for those less fortunate than us.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:19 am
The first National Convention of the Tamil United Liberation Front meeting at Pannakam (Vaddukoddai Constituency) on the 14th day of May, 1976, hereby declares that the Tamils of Ceylon by virtue of their great language, their religions, their separate culture and heritage, their history of independent existence as a separate state over a distinct territory for several centuries till they were conquered by the armed might of the European invaders and above all by their will to exist as a separate entity ruling themselves in their own territory, are a nation distinct and apart from Sinhalese and this Convention announces to the world that the Republican Constitution of 1972 has made the Tamils a slave nation ruled by the new colonial masters, the Sinhalese ,who are using the power they have wrongly usurped to deprive the Tamil Nation of its territory, language citizenship, economic life, opportunities of employment and education, thereby destroying all the attributes of nationhood of the Tamil people.
And, while taking note of the reservations in relation to its commitment to the setting up of a separated state of TAMIL EELAM expressed by the Ceylon Workers Congress as a Trade Union of the Plantation Workers, the majority of whom live and work outside the Northern and Eastern areas,
This convention resolves that restoration and reconstitution of the Free, Sovereign, Secular, Socialist State of TAMIL EELAM, based on the right of self determination inherent to every nation, has become inevitable in order to safeguard the very existence of the Tamil Nation in this Country.
This Convention further declares -
that the State of TAMIL EELAM shall consist of the people of the Northern and Eastern provinces and shall also ensure full and equal rights of citizenship of the State of TAMIL EELAM to all Tamil speaking people living in any part of Ceylon and to Tamils of EELAM origin living in any part of the world who may opt for citizenship of TAMIL EELAM.
that the constitution of TAMIL EELAM shall be based on the principle of democratic decentralization so as to ensure the non-domination of any religious or territorial community of TAMIL EELAM by any other section.
that in the state of Tamil Eelam caste shall be abolished and the observance of the pernicious practice of untouchability or inequality of any type based on birth shall be totally eradicated and its observance in any form punished by law.
that TAMIL EELAM shall be a secular state giving equal protection and assistance to all religions to which the people of the state may belong.
that Tamil shall be the language of the State, but the rights of Sinhalese speaking minorities in Tamil Eelam to education and transaction of business in their language shall be protected on a reciprocal basis with the Tamil speaking minorities in the Sinhala State.
that Tamil Eelam shall be a Socialist State wherein the exploitation of man by man shall be forbidden, the dignity of labor shall be recognized, the means of production and distribution shall be subject to public ownership and control while permitting private enterprise in these branches within limit prescribed by law, economic development shall be on the basis of socialist planning and there shall be a ceiling on the total wealth that any individual of family may acquire.
This Convention directs the Action Committee of the TAMIL UNITED LIBERATION FRONT to formulate a plan of action and launch without undue delay the struggle for winning the sovereignty and freedom of the Tamil Nation;
And this Convention calls upon the Tamil Nation in general and the Tamil youth in particular to come forward to throw themselves fully into the sacred fight for freedom and to flinch not till the goal of a sovereign state of TAMIL EELAM is reached.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Canadians know clearly that coservatives uses Tamils Issue to play dirty politics with other parties. But keep in mind There is 100s of tamils being killed everyday by Srilankan state Terrorist. Is our current Canadian government support State Terrorism??? Are they support use of cluster bombs and chemical bombs on civilians rather than freedom fight??? Tamils are only asking for their own political rights which has been refused by Srilankan governments for decades, nothing else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Tigers are not legitimate in the eyes of the government, but they are legitimate and powerful in the eyes of the people,”
R. Cheran, http://www.ottawacitizen.com/News/Wellington+st...
April 9th, 2009 at 10:19 am
They're not helping their cause by blocking our streets. They can go to Sri Lanka and try it there.
Our Country can't go take over the Sri Lankan government so what are they proposing be done about their “home” land?
It certainly rings home loud and clear our immigration needs to be severely overhauled. Tamils come here and get our citizenship then expect we should fight their wars for them. It's time to set a few things straight but no government party will act. If the Conservatives make a move the Liberals will go the opposite way for votes, these Canadians of convenience are well aware of it and that's the reason many of them choose this country to come to.
With our Trudeau Charter and multicultural boondoggle it's a real magnet.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Memorial for IPKF – Innocent People Killing Force – Sri Lanka10 posts – 3 authors – Last post: 14 Jan
Pirampadi, Kokuvil etc:- A large number of civilians were killed in ….. IPKF did a dirty job for Sri Lanka. IPKF sacrificed thousands of …
http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2008/12/37128_spac... – 44k
April 9th, 2009 at 11:52 am
SINCE 1978 LTTE sacified inTAMILEELAM_ SRILANKA.
TWO NATIONS IN ONE LAND
April 9th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Dear Kevin:
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April 9th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
They are not Tamil Tigers……they are Tamil Canadians who concerned about their relatives back home and seeking for help.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Sri Lanka has chemical weapons. Bombs the civilians with cluster bombs. Provoked and did nothing about the riots(1958,1977,1983). The Sri Lankan army massacared thousands and rejected any international investigations. Now they have concentration camps to restrict the movements of Tamils. Tamil women and under aged girls were raped by Sri Lankan army. Yet Canada maintains it diplomatic relationship and funds Sri Lanka, where Sri Lanka uses that money to buy more weapons to kill Tamils. So who is the terrorist here? If this is not genocide then what? Random killing of tamils for no reason is called what? If Canada should not intervene in this matter, why does Canada has an Sri Lankan Embassy in Ottawa? If LTTE is labeled as terrorist for their suicide bombing tactics, then should the Sri Lankan government. Aren't we witnessing a double standard here?
April 9th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Is the site where you found evidence that LTTE may conduct chemical warfare?
1) http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090312_05
If that's true, then please refer the following website in which the Photoshopped image is analyzed:
2)http://www.sibernews.com/200903122233/
Instead of throwing accusations and making false statements, you should tae a closer look at what the SL government is really doing!
April 9th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
These people Ltte Supporters They want to protect Ltte….Don't worry any-one we are going to win the war…No one can't stop…Im not angry with Tamil people…I have lot of tamil friends…Tamil people are very nice and good!!! But Ltte ruin there lives!!! Don't support Ltte my friends…They are the major problem for our country…We all lived peacefully in our motherland!!!!! we all are Srilankans we all did wrong things in the past but as a humans we all can get to gether and make this world peaceful Place
April 9th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
I wonder if Jim “Tamil Tiger” Karygiannis and some of the other Toronto MPs would prevail on a future Prime Minister Ignatieff to remove the LTTE and the World Tamil movement from the terror watch list. Just what is the Liberal Party's stand on the LTTE's status as a terror group? I notice when the LTTE supporters were clogging the streets of Toronto, many, many signs wanted the ban removed. They'll get nowhere with Harper, but maybe Iggy will help them? Hmmm…
April 9th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
This war has caused an irreversible damage between Tamils and Sinhalese communities. You could see the hate and dislike even in the comments here. There is no chance for a united SriLanka now. It will be better to have two Nations in peace than one nation in conflict. You cannot bring peace by force.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
It's not the Tamil Tigers protesting but it is the people who are affected by the Sri Lankan state sponsored genocide of the Tamils. McKenzie institute is(or was) a think tank that spent all their (oh no) all his time in a hotel room listening to the Sri lankan state propagandists. Please do not be ignorant of the thousands of Tamil civilians killed by the 99.99% Sinhala dominated Sri Lankan armed forces just this year. Canada is a democracy and we do not have any war loads to control people! Think why the Tamils support the Tamil Tigers. Please do your diligence before being bought into the Sri Lankan government propaganda. Think why 1 million out of the 3.5 million Tamils escaped Sri Lanka and the answer is easy to follow.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
The Tamil Tigers protesters in Ottawa demand the Canadian government ” do something”. I agree. They feel they should be able to boldly display their terrorist sympathies with impunity, we may be obliged to endure this impudent abuse of our generosity in foolishly embracing the intolerant and welcoming them to Canada with open arms, but we are not exactly powerless. The RCMP should compile a list of terrorist sympathizers and we should ban them from any government employment, they should be flagged and denied Canadian passports and moreover same lists should be provided to Immigration Canada to deny terrorist sympathizers eligibility to sponsor family members ( presumably other terrorist sympathizers) for immigration to Canada. Then we will see how boldly they wish to display their Tamil Tiger sympathies.
All we seem to hear from Tamil contributors is a rehashing of their historical grievances, their persecution and oppression by the Sinhalese majority in Ceylon/ Sri Lanka( and prior to that subjugation at he hands of European invaders) and how their struggle for an exclusive ethnic enclave is just and noble, by any and all means, worthy of support by the world community. I am sure that the Sinhalese could provide us with a similar list of grievances and historic justification for their policies, and that's my point, ethnic politics is a quagmire and we shouldn't be picking favourites, and certainly not on the basis of which community has larger numerical representation in Canada.
Note that these exclusionist and ethnically intolerant grievance mongers will opportunistically and hypocritically use ” Canadian multiculturalism” to their benefit, as they more often than not apparently do, when claiming the hospitality, protection and benefits of Canadian citizenship in pursuit of hostile foreign objectives ( civil war, destabilization, ethnic cleansing and ethnic enclaves, overthrow of foreign governments) diametrically opposed to the policies of that country which generously gave them refuge and citizenship. If they can't peacefully coexist with one other culture, one other ethnic neighbour on a small island without engaging in mutual slaughter, why in the world would we believe such people are worthy of consideration for Canadian citizenship.
The name says it all , they are “Tamil” Tigers, that is an ethnically based political organization, terrorist to boot, all means justify the end, and that end is what, to seize a portion of Sri Lankan territory , if not Brampton, Ontario as Tamil homeland and expel the Sinhalese oppressors. The name says it all, the objective is purely ethnic politics, the objective an ethnic enclave, no Sinhalese need apply, and why this regressive objective meets with the support of Jack Layton and The NDP is beyond me. Next the NDP will be picking favourites between the Hutu and the Tutsis, well they would if there was some immigrant community of one or the other and some electoral gain to be had, but that tells you a lot about principled politics. No the Tamil Tigers are not Nelson Mandela and the ANC, Jack Layton to the contrary, the program tells you everything, the ANC was not some ethnically exclusive political organization but was broader based and even had support among South African whites.
There is some kneejerk belief by the Jack Laytons of this world that secessionist political movements are inherently ” progressive”, that every ethnic group is entitled to its own enclave where they rule the roost and call the shots, that this is a worthy objective, that the Tamils are entitled to carve themselves and exclusionist homeland, so if he is so committed to the breakup and partition of Sri Lanka, why doesn't he apply this wisdom to Canada and fuse with the Bloc. He was pretty much there already with his coalition adventure. No, every secessionist movement is not politically or historically justified. Apply this yardstick to the American civil war. There the secessionists were the regressives, supported slavery, and the state power that militarily fought the secession and breakup of the Ameican Union and in so doing denied the ” self determination” of slaveowner secessionists was historically in the right.
So why again should the government of Canada support the demand and the struggle for some Tamil homeland carved out of Sri Lanka? And for the Tamil Tiger supporters, fervently protesting in Ottawa for their right to an exclusive ethnic enclave overseas, if such is their true objective and they are prepared to go to any and all lengths to obtain this, including slaughter of Sinhalese co-occupants, what in the world are they doing holding Canadian citizenship.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
The quotes from MacKenzie Institute unfortunately are not the real truth and I wonder if they had interviewed any of the Tamil Canadians before releasing some of the distorted facts. I have a few questions
1. Where were these protestors when the Conservatives banned the LTTE? Why didn’t they get on to the streets of Toronto and Ottawa ?
2. Why are they now on the streets waving the flags of LTTE?
These are the questions that you need to find answers for before drawing conclusions that make us Tamil Canadians feel like Terrorists. This is how the racist Sinhala governments made us feel in that country and is doing the same to this minute. Under the pretext of “War on Terror” they are committing GENOCIDE on all Tamils. This is not only happening in the war zone but in all parts of the country. Here are the examples within a period of less than 24 hours.
Apr 09 10:37 14 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo
Apr 09 04:37 26 Tamils arrested in Ampaa’rai
Apr 09 04:25 SLA shelling kills ICRC Team Leader in Vanni
Apr 08 20:49 SLA attacks kill 129 civilians, 282 wounded in 'sa.
Mind you the first 2 reports are from the so called Sinhala areas. It is absolutely incorrect to say the killings of Tamils in 1983 were a plot of the LTTE. I was born in Colombo during the 1958 riots lived through the 1977 riots and personally witnessed killings and burning of Tamils in 1983 riots after which we had no choice but had to leave when my home was regularly search by the police in the middle of the night and we sensed eminent danger.
This Canada , that I call my home gave me refuge and a sense of belonging for the first time in my life. I did not come for monetary reasons or a good life but purely for political reasons. I cried the day I became a Canadian Citizen and I still choke when my National Anthem “O Canada “is sung. I am a proud Tamil Canadian and don't want to be known or called a Sri Lankan. I am also a proud mother of a son who after graduating has chosen to serve in the Canadian armed forces and takes great pride and dedication in serving his country.
But, when the people I left behind die and are suffering and face the same danger and feeling of helplessness what I faced 25 years ago, I have no choice but to turn towards my country to ask for help. I need my Prime Minister to intervene and I need my country to help.
This I will ask this not only for my Tamil brothers and sisters but also for any other human being who may face the same situation. We, Canadians were not there for the Tutsi’s of Rwanda , and turned away a ship of Jews who sought refuge and ended their lives in the gas chambers. We said it won’t happen again, but it is happening right now and my Canada needs to act now.
I thank my Foreign Minister for standing up and not letting a foreigner dictate terms to show how this country should run its affairs. I worked as a volunteer for a PC candidate in the last elections not only because I had great respect for him but also because I came into this country when it was governed by a Conservative – Mr. Mulroney another great Canadian I respect
April 10th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
keep your problems in your homeland. period! we all to Canada so we can be free and peaceful so lets keep it that way. The rest of us Canadians do not want to get involved in a battle that is not ours. Why must we back a terrorist group???
Why must you Tamils disrupt everyone's lives here just because there is a war from where you came from? to me…its selfish and nothing more then that. Just a cry for attention. We all have our own lives to worry about and our own families. Im sure there are thousands of Canadians from other countries as well who have problems and have had family members killed but at least they dont push it on to others. These protests are wrong and should be stopped.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
DA: “What is the model of Canada? the mosaic. We are allowed to define ourselves with our homeland identity plus our canadian identity. We are allowed to hold two passports.”
Yes. The Canadian model has been defined as the mosaic, unlike the Americans' melting pot. That was Canada's big mistake — accepting that immigrants “are allowed to define [themselves] with [their] homeland identity.” Actually, this has only been the case since Pierre Trudeau's Liberals came to power in the late '60s and saw the mosaic/multicultural model you describe as a perfect way to gain votes for their Party.
Before Trudeau, immigrants (my ancestors included, who arrived on Canadian shores over 200 years ago) came to Canada to forge a Canadian identity along with the many immigrants of other nationalities. During the two world wars, where they fought together for Canada's and the Commonwealth's democratic freedoms, a common Canadian identity was forged from the many diverse nationalities. This built a vibrant Canadian democracy, which worked for most Canadians.
Now, Canada has been Balkanized, and it seems that we have become an increasingly fractured nation. This is not encouraging from the point of view of a healthy democracy that works for the majority of its people.
I am a Canadian who has only one passport, and am curious about what is gained by allowing Canadian citizens who benefit from our democratic freedoms and benefits TWO passports? This suggests that Canadians holding two passports can pick and choose to whom their allegiance will be at any given time. How does this arrangement benefit Canada and Canadians who hold only a Canadian passport?
Unfortunately, we've seen how easy it is to take advantage of Canada's hospitality when hyphenated-Canadians hold two passports. Think of the thousands of Lebanese who were evacuated from war-torn Lebanon at great expense to the Canadian taxpayers, who then turned around and returned to Lebanon just a few months later where they were able to receive Canadian benefits which would never be invested in the Canadian economy.
Something's terribly wrong with this picture. Put the shoe on the other foot: I'm a two-passport holding Sri Lankan who can come and go as I like, but prefer to live in the other country whose passport I hold while still pulling on Sri Lankan benefits while not investing much, if anything, into the Sri Lankan economy. As a one-passport-holding Sri Lankan how would you feel about increasing numbers of your tax dollars going to Sri Lankans of convenience who are hardly ever in your country?
Issues that need to be seriously thought about …
April 10th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Deal all,
This is a newly released Tamil Eelam Freedom song. Please listen and forward it to your friends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab75HCokprU
இது புதிதாக வெளியிடப்பட்ட தமிழீழம் விடுதலைக் கீதம். இந்தப் பாடலைக் கேட்ட பின்னர் உங்கள் நன்பர்களுக்கும் அனுப்பி வைக்கவும்.
நன்றி.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
I am really sorry for the Tamil Canadians who disturbed you with their protests. Sorry, that they have shouted into your deaf ears. Sorry that they delayed you for your appointment when they blocked the road. You must be a very self centered person. I don’t think you have too many friends or family. Are you really a Canadian? Canadians are very sympathetic people. They have helped people all around the world in their freedom struggles. They helped to bring peace in Cyprus, South Africa, Ireland, Rwanda, Kosovo, Haiti and many more countries. They are well known for their peace keeping. We are hoping that they will do the same thing in SriLanka. We want our Prime Minister Stephen Harper to take action against the Genocide of Tamils in SriLanka. Is it too much for us to hope for it?
April 10th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Sri Lankan Government uses Chemical Weapons in Vanni (Northern part of Sri Lanka) Warfront, WWW urges immediate dispatch of independent observers for inquiry into war crimes
Click here to download the Report
Initial results of Independent investigations conducted by “War Without Witness” confirms that Sri Lankan Government uses Chemical Weapons in Vanni (Northern Part of Sri Lanka) war front both on civilians and its enemy combatants. Two victims were examined by a qualified independent doctor in Vanni ‘Safe Zone’ on 05th April and the initial results have been peer-reviewed by an experienced doctor in United Kingdom.
Since the Government of Sri Lanka has banned access for all the Independent monitors, Humanitarian Workers including UN and the media, the combat zone is being isolated from the out side world, War Without Witness regrets that a comprehensive forensic/chemical analysis report could not be produced at this point of time.
War Without Witness urgently urge silent partners of Sri Lankan Government’s war on innocent Tamil civilians including United States of America, India, United Kingdom, China, Japan, Norway, Australia and United Nations to immediately dispatch independent observers to the war zone and ensure the safety of civilians by way of an immediate ceasefire and independent inquiry into this war crime. War Without Witness urgently urge independent organisations like Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), US Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, UKs Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) and all 186 OPCW Member States to immediately dispatch independent observers to the war zone and ensure the safety of civilians by way of an immediate ceasefire and independent inquiry into this war crime.
Extracts of Medical/Chemical Report
Chemical Substances found on the wounds are, 1) Triethanolamine (C6H15NO3)
2) Phosgene (CCl2O)
Interview with those victims’ leads to the conclusion that these are type of Mustard Gas attack delivered via high explosive rocket launchers and aerial bombing. Some of the observations among the victims are ‘high vomiting’, ‘mustard-coloured blisters’, ‘closed throats’, ‘breathing difficulty’ and ‘extreme pain’.
Photographic Evidence of sample wounds
“War Without Witness” will continue to report on the Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka and if you have any evidences etc please email them to WitnessDesk@WarWithoutWitness.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Executive Director,
War Without Witness
April 11th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
asshole.
April 11th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
if sri lanka had something such as oil to offer, then the government would be alllll over that. But since the country is basically useless, they think it's alright to get rid of a few thousand folks.
April 12th, 2009 at 6:21 am
For sheer gall and inanity, I would be hard put to find commentaries that surpass those of Tamil Tiger supporters and sympathizers spamming and cluttering this discussion. Don't you people realize this is a website affiliated to the Conservative Party of Canada, frequented by those who are conservative- minded or who support the policies of the current government of Canada. One of the reasons I support the current government is precisely because of the hardline it took towards terrorist activities tied to this or that immigrant community, that previous governments were inclined to wink at and ignore. A case in point being the outlawing of the Tamil Tigers.
Do you seriously believe you will convert Conservative Party supporters to your cause, that of picking a fight with and waging war against the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka. What is this belief, that immigrant communities get to determine the foreign policy of Canada based on their collective grudges, that the enemies of every refugee group that we so foolishly allow onto Canadian soil and grant the rights of citizenship to automatically become our enemies, that we will wage their bloody and misguided battles on their behalf. Only the NDP and Jack Layton would be foolish enough to embrace such nonsense, to allow our foreign policy to be based on the grudges of every immigrant group, sometimes diametrically opposed, and Canada would end up being at war and seeking to destabilize the governments of half the planet.
You should be content with small victories, you have already signed up Jack Layton to the cause of the Tamil Tigers, and there are any number of spineless jellyfish Liberal MPs prepared to prostrate themselves and support the demands of any terrorist group, abducters of children, juvenile war conscripters and embassy torchers, who last week were marching about with sharpened sticks shouting ” death to America” or “death to Denmark” or some such inanity, that disembarks at Pearson airport and is willing to purchase Liberal Party membership. Undoubtedly your proposed social experiment in exclusionist Tamil ethno socialism would appeal to Bloc members, so take your case to these misfits. On that score, give the matter thought for a moment, you are seeking to convince Conservative Party supporters to embrace your cause, that of waging bloody war and slaughtering Sinhalese in Sri Lanka to further another doomed social experiment in ethno socialism. The landscape of the twentieth century is littered with the corpses of such projects, and you want to give it another shot, and seriously believe we will sign on.
This is so typical of left wing speechmongering prevalent with college kids who have no real life experience, it is one thing to wage struggles and curse the enemies of your people, your idelogy, your faith, and struggle to seize power in the abstract in university lecture halls, and quite another to actually wage such battle in the real world and see the body count pile up on both sides. So let's reiterate, Canadians have no grudge against the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, we are scarcely aware of their existence, they are not even on the radar, and we are certainly not going to pick a fight with them, wage war against them, seek to destabilize or partition Sri Lanka simply because Tamil refugees to Canada prod us to adopt their cause. The government of Canada is not about to let the Tamil Tigers, a banned terrorist organization, determine its foreign policy.
Now on to the claims of persecution and human rights abuses. It should be pointed out that such claims have very little credibility coming from those who impudently and foolishly march under the banners of the Tamil Tigers.
To put it in context for those at home, it would be akin to supporters of the FLQ levelling charges of persecution against the government of Canada. Well yes, in such case the government has every right to adopt extraordinary measures and “persecute” terrorists and their supporters. Independent of the rights and wrongs of the ethnic groups embroiled in the conflict, the government of Sri Lanka has the right to defend its existence against armed insurrectionists.
And make no mistake, those levelling the charges of abuses and persecution on this forum are not innocent civilians inadvertently swept up in a civil war, but those who openly declare their support for the battles waged by the insurrectionists. You can't go pick a fight with the Sinhalese, get bloody and beaten and then come back to Canada and complain of how you got beat up and seek intervention by the government of Canada on your behalf. That's not how it works. We pick our own enemies and our own battles, when it so behooves us, and we are not about to base our foreign policy on the initiatives of every group of dubious Canadians of convenience who seek to wage battle and overthrow some foreign government and prompt them into reprisals. You go poking around in a hornet's nest, you are going to get stung.
April 12th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Well-said, Dupmar.
I haven't even bothered to read all of the Tamil Tiger propaganda cluttering this thread. I've got other issues in my life and that of my family which take precedence over a battle that's taking place on the other side of the world.
Canada — well, PET and his we'll-do-anything-for-power-including-selling-Canada-down-the-river LPC coterie– made a big mistake when it allowed immigrants to Canada to hold two passports. Divided loyalties proliferate and us one-passport holding Canadians are left holding the bag and paying the bill.
ENOUGH.
If immigrants to Canada cannot make an unambiguous commitment to this country and its democratic institutions, they need to turn right around and go back to their country of origin — or never be allowed into Canada in the first place. This demand by Canadians of convenience that Canadians take up their grievances, by blocking our streets and access to businesses and Parliament, is outrageous impertinence.
Those Tamil Tiger sympathizers and apologists posting on this thread need to know that they are grossly abusing Canadas' hospitality and good will., which are not in inexhaustible supply.
April 12th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
It's a simple solution folks!
The remaining 'Non-Tamil supporters in Canada (99.82%) should protest in front of Air Canada in demand for cheap seat sales and send these morons back to settle the score!
What do these protesters do for a living anyway?
April 12th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Perhaps the remaining 'Non disruptive' and Non Tamil Canadians (99.89%) should protest in front of Air India and demand cheap seat sales so we can send these freedom fighters back to Tamil Land and settle the score there!
Don't these protesters work?
April 13th, 2009 at 12:16 am
these protesters are Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Business men as well as general labour and students…
if these so called “morons” were all sent back home .. this country will see a major economic hit especially toronto.
lets not forget, we're all immigrants to this country and the only true canadians are native indians ….
A time will come for tamils when something similar like this happens in your own backyard… and they will complain about traffic and tell u to leave your problems at the door.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:55 am
If we look back in history, any group that rebelled against their government in a civil war was categorized as terrorists. Down the road, once the struggle was over, we were able to look back and understand why they acted the way they did, and see that their ways were, in fact, justified. The problem with that is we were too closed-minded to help them out when they needed it.
As educated people, one would think we'd learn from history's mistakes and act on stopping the violence in the island. Apparently neither the author of this article nor many people commenting on this article are intelligent enough to make those conclusions.
How many lives will it cost for the world to act ?
April 14th, 2009 at 8:14 am
I would like to comment on below by a fellow Canadian.
“The main line that they give is, they are doing this for their Country ! Well folks I thought your Country was Canada. When you come here, please leave your baggage at the door!”
For your information what we left behind is more than our baggage, our friends from school, neighbours we grew up with, sisters, brothers and cousins. Yes we are proud Canadians but are also humble human beings who cannot ignore that fact or move on merely with our luxury life here with out thinking of them.
We still humanity in us to feel and raise our voice for the genocide that is happening in Srilanka. The author says there is no such thing as genocide in Srilanka he says there are no “labour camps and death camps”. I suggest he better get his passport ready and try visiting Silanka and the northern province. No media is allowed, there is a war against Tamils with out any witness. The people who flee the war zone are in a greater danger they are in detention camps which was described by a humanitarian from New York ) who actually visited one) says she has in her career visited several of these from around the world but haven’t come across one of this atrocity.
The people who are marching in Ottawa are not terrorist; they lived and faced terrorism from their child hood, the terrorism of Srilankan Government. If any one knows better it is the people who had first hand experience living there, they are the only ones who has the right to speak about it. Any one else, feel free to visit the place find out what is happening there from the kids to the elderly who are facing the genocide and then write your article about it and I would definitely respect that.
I know it is great inconvenience to traffic, although the crowd in Ottawa is doing their level best to avoid that. Just think about the cause they are there for, they are there to plead for help, help to save human life and I hope the world has a little more humanity left in it to feel for these people.
April 17th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Just one Problem you come to our country for no other reason than to protest and help your families at home?
Please take the next plane back and help them. This is Canada. If you prople don't feel that Canada is your Country why stay. I wished you would either leave your baggage at ” Home ” or do not come.The Canadian Governement ows nothing to the Tamils.
I think it is time that we stop this duel citizenship garbage. I myself am an Immigrant and do not hold dual Citizenship. When I came Canada, it was to be ” my ” country I needed no other.The fact that so many stay in Canada for ten or 15 years, then go back to their country of origin and only come back for our healthcare and to get our pension. I think the Government should make it clear. No pension if you go back.
April 17th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
You still don't get it. Your actions are backfiring to all the Tamils in this country. We owe you nothing. Solve your own problem by going home and doing things there.
April 24th, 2009 at 3:53 am
aaron: “A number of comments in this thread are pure racist.”
That's pure nonsense.
I'm weary beyond measure that in these latter days of the multicultural dispensation ANY criticism leveled against a group that is a visible minority is labeled “racist.” That is a cop-out and demonstrates an inability to argue the merits, or otherwise, of an argument.
Of course there are countless immigrants to Canada, my ancestors included, who contribute their “time, treasure, and talent” to this country, and I say “Bravo” to all of them.
There are, however, and this has been a fairly recent occurrence, immigrants who seem to have come to Canada merely as a convenience to them. They seem to have no intention of pitching their tent in any real way on Canadian soil, but are very happy to take advantage of all of their “rights” and “freedoms” rather than being mindful of their responsibilities as citizens of this country and their obligations.
What, aaron, is it that the Canadian government can do to help the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka? Why aren't all these demonstrator willing to do something IN Sri Lanka? We could argue till Kingdom Come about whether or not they are terrorists. The Canadian government has outlawed them because of their proven terrorist activities and if you have a beef about that, take it up with your elected representative to Parliament. But, please, don't play the racist card because you don't happen to like the way an argument is going.
My family and I have been paying the way for too many immigrants to this country to live off the dole and to have all of their services, dental, medical, housing, daycare, after-school care, “heritage” languages in our schools, etc., provided. My family, on the other hand, has had to pay for its own medical, dental, housing, and childcare, all the while watching our heritage — which is a proud one — be trashed in our schools and in the MSM.
Sorry you don't like to hear about our growing discontent with this situation, though you might try putting yourselves in our situation to try and see why we're not exactly happy with the “contribution” being made to Canadian society by certain groups of immigrants. And, in addition to the monetary burden these “rights” and “freedoms” of new immigrants are putting on the Canadian citizenry, we are experiencing much higher crime rates in our cities and much less harmony in our schools and on our streets.
That's a fact. It has nothing to do with “racism.” In fact, I might call your statements reverse racism, because you seem to be saying that people with my background and views have no right to simply make observations about what's happening in our country.
April 24th, 2009 at 4:06 am
aaron, if you're still watching this thread, two questions:
Who is being “racist” on this thread? Be specific. Quote “racist” comments. I'd like to see what you mean by “racist.”
How are you being treated in Canada like a second-class citizen — and I mean you, specifically, not just general comments made about “immigrants.”
June 6th, 2009 at 8:00 am
I liked your comment the most!
Emma
June 21st, 2009 at 8:41 am
Distressing news. I pray that the concerned parties would come at a middle point, that would both be satisfactory enough to bring out peace and ease their minds, and more importantly their troubled hearts.