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rfmcdonaldSome Tamil Canadians in Toronto have chosen a hunger strike in response to the ongoing war in Sri Lanka.
The Tamil-Canadian community is largely of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, founded by the 1983 anti-Tamil pogroms in Sri Lanka made thousands of people refugees. The Sri Lankan consul general in Toronto, however, is unmoved.
There is something to Jayasekera's claims. Diasporas have played vital roles in support of movements of all kinds, and for years Tamil-Canadians have complained that they've been shaken down by fundraisers, told that if they didn't pay they'd be kept out of Tamil Tiger-controlled areas, or worse, reminded that they still had family members living in those zones. I myself remember how a joke made to a Tamil delivery person about his contributions to the Tigers terrified the man. The funnelling of funds to the Tamil Tigers led the Canadian government to ban the World Tamil Movement, a charitable organization, last summer as a Tiger front organization.
Members of Toronto's 200,000-strong Tamil community are holding a week-long fast to draw attention to the suffering of relatives caught in Sri Lanka's 25-year civil war, as the army intensifies efforts to eliminate the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Recent government advances in the war, which has claimed the lives of more than 70,000 people since 1983, have displaced tens of thousands of Tamils. Greater Toronto's Tamil community, the largest in the world outside Asia, wants Canada to press Sri Lanka to bring about a ceasefire and urge the two sides toward peace.
"Most of these Tamil Canadians still have relatives in these areas and they're being affected" by having to flee their homes or risk aerial bombardment, David Poopalapillai, a spokesman for the Canadian Tamil Congress, said yesterday. On Monday, Logan Kanapathi, a Tamil-Canadian city councillor from Markham, attended the kickoff of a seven-day, rotating fast at the Metropolitan Centre on Finch Avenue East in Toronto. Similar events are going on at Hindu temples and other locations.
Neethan Shan, a York Region school board trustee of Tamil background, said about 150 people at a time will fast for 24-hour stints through Sunday at the Metropolitan Centre event, with hundreds more taking part for shorter periods.
The Tamil-Canadian community is largely of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, founded by the 1983 anti-Tamil pogroms in Sri Lanka made thousands of people refugees. The Sri Lankan consul general in Toronto, however, is unmoved.
Bandula Jayasekera, Sri Lanka's Consul General in Toronto, said the LTTE's military losses are having the effect that "more and more Tamils know it was a pipe dream" to finance the insurgency. He said those participating in this week's fasts are "trying to keep the so-called cause alive" and suggested that concerned Tamils should send food to their relatives rather than money to the Tigers.
There is something to Jayasekera's claims. Diasporas have played vital roles in support of movements of all kinds, and for years Tamil-Canadians have complained that they've been shaken down by fundraisers, told that if they didn't pay they'd be kept out of Tamil Tiger-controlled areas, or worse, reminded that they still had family members living in those zones. I myself remember how a joke made to a Tamil delivery person about his contributions to the Tigers terrified the man. The funnelling of funds to the Tamil Tigers led the Canadian government to ban the World Tamil Movement, a charitable organization, last summer as a Tiger front organization.
