A common misconception, I have found, is that people (and often the media) assume the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or the Tamil Tigers) and the Tamil people are one in the same. This is a gross misconception, for many Tamil people do not support the LTTE and if they do, it was most likely because no one else in the world was standing up for them. The massive protests in Toronto in support of the Tamils may have seemed to be in favour of the Tigers. But underlying the protests was the disgust with the horrific number of Tamils the Sri Lankan government executed during the last few months of the civil war. While the injustices of the LTTE have been many – including the high profile assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, in 1996 – the Sri Lankan government itself has many things to answer for. BOTH sides of the civil war mercilessly bombed and killed civilians who were, often enough, innocent Tamils. It is these Tamils that need asylum in Canada – not the ones who perpetuated and propagated this war.

Last month, a large ship carrying 76 men was seized off the coast of British Colombia by the RCMP. Although the origins of the ship and the men was initially unknown, the government has learned that the men are Tamil migrants and the ship was used by the LTTE, a terrorist organization banned in Canada, for transporting arms. While human rights lawyers for the group say it is unfair to assume they are all members of the Tigers – as only two have thus far proven to be by recognition of the Sri Lankan government – Immigration minister Jason Kenny is heeding the advice of an international expert on terrorism who claims the Tigers are looking to re-group in Canada. Thus far, only one of the men aboard has been released from custody into Canada though he still awaits refugee status.

The LTTE were reportedly defeated last spring after several months of intensive and increased fighting which led to the death of their chief in command and founding leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Prabhakaran had claimed that peaceful protests in the LTTE’s early years were ignored and oppressed and that guerrilla action was the only option to attain equality for Tamil people. The civil war in Sri Lanka lasted almost twenty-five years, during which time a large amount of refugees came to Canada to avoid the violence in their home country. Toronto and Vancouver have sizable Tamil communities as a result of the influx from the civil war. Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, who is the head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research based in Singapore, warned the Canadian government that the Tigers were looking to regroup in Canada and continue to wage battle against the Sri Lankan government to obtain their ultimate goal: a Tamil state in the north of Sri Lanka. Gunaratna lays the blame for the execution of the migrant ship on a Canadian, Ravi Shankar Kanagaraja, whom the RCMP are attempting to locate.

Conversely, defense lawyers for the remaining 75 men claim that the migrants have their appropriate paper work in order, such as birth certificates and some even with passports. He says the men paid around $400.00 to take the boat to come to Canada, in hopes of gaining refugee status as life in Sri Lanka is a constant danger for Tamils since the end of the war in May. The Canadian government will evaluate each of the refugee claims and will send home those who do not meet the criteria, and no former members of the LTTE will be given asylum in Canada. Many Tamil families in Vancouver and Toronto have offered to take in the Tamil migrants, but they are still being imprisoned until their background checks are complete.

After reading about the ship, I find a few things very hard to fathom. Firstly though, I do believe that taking in refugees is a vital and essential practice. I also believe that, particularly in a country like Canada, we thrive on the intellect and work ethic of our large immigration population and that immigration should be encouraged by all levels of government. Certainly the immigration/refugee program in Canada is far from perfect and I do believe we need to re-evaluate and re-structure it so that it allows the right people in and keeps the wrong people out. So who are the right people? Thousands of Tamil people have come to Canada and set up productive and prosperous lives – particularly in the culinary industry where a Tamil pallet is rarely rivaled. Who are the wrong people? Well, for example, a bunch of Tamil Tigers who arrive in a big rusty ship on the coast of British Colombia and expect to by-pass the legalities that most other legitimate refugees from Sri Lanka must face in order to come to Canada.

I don’t particularly think it matters whether or not some of these men were Tigers. What should be our first concern is these men are attempting to abuse and misuse a system that is already flawed and would be further flawed by simply allowing everyone and anyone to come to the country to gain status. Frankly, the amount of legitimate Tamils awaiting refugee status while remaining in Sri Lanka should be getting priority – not those who afforded the money to take a terrorist boat or, perhaps, had the appropriate connections. It is a distinct possibility that these men were indeed part of a plot that would re-group the Tigers in Canada and as such, they must be sent home. If they are innocent, as they claim, they will have to wait and go through the same procedures everyone else would and should not have a problem gaining asylum in Canada. The Canadian government, as well as the global community, should be putting pressure on both the Sri Lankan government and the remaining Tigers to answer for the blatant war crimes committed during the 25 year civil war.

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Tags: ltte, refugee, Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers

This entry was posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 5:54 pm and is filed under Federal Government, Foreign Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.