Two Tales of Sri Lankans – August 21,2010
Posted on August 23rd, 2010
Ira de Silva London, Ontario, Canada
The Editor
Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, Ontario
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Dear Sir:
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Reference this article, considering that it has been written by someone who works forƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the Member of Parliament who is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, could it be that he is apologizing on behalfƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of the government who could have and should have stopped this shipload of illegals from entering Canada to enjoy life at the expense of Canadian tax payers ?
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
He is entitled to his opinions on his fellow countrymen whetherƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Canadian Tamil or SinhaleseƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ but certainly has no right to state that Canadians of Sinhalese origin have missed what he refers to as the “humanitarian aspect of this drama”. The fact is that this was a well planned exercise in international human trafficking. These people are all Tamils who had $45,000 each to pay for the journey. If he knows Sri Lanka, he knows that the average Sri LankanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ cannot afford this amount. Therefore, these people are not the “less fortunate” heƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ refers to – they are still in Sri Lanka awaiting the processing of their legitimate applications. His duplicity is exposed because he is fully aware that the humanitarian aspect is being introduced to cover the fact that these are people did not want to apply to come to Canada in the usual manner – after all he applied to come here so should know the legal process which is not to pay a large sum of money and get on a boat operated by the LTTE. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Also, he knows full well that non-Tamil Sri Lankans did not pay exorbitant amounts to enter Canada as bogus refugees. People who are law abiding citizens in Sri Lanka and other countries who want to immigrate to Canada have to provide security clearances, undergo medical examination, provide detailed information of their qualifications and show that they have the ability to work in Canada as well as have sponsors. Obviously these boat peopleƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ chose this route because they could not provide that information or knew that they would not qualify.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, Ontario
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Dear Sir:
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Reference this article, considering that it has been written by someone who works forƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the Member of Parliament who is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, could it be that he is apologizing on behalfƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of the government who could have and should have stopped this shipload of illegals from entering Canada to enjoy life at the expense of Canadian tax payers ?
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
He is entitled to his opinions on his fellow countrymen whetherƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Canadian Tamil or SinhaleseƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ but certainly has no right to state that Canadians of Sinhalese origin have missed what he refers to as the “humanitarian aspect of this drama”. The fact is that this was a well planned exercise in international human trafficking. These people are all Tamils who had $45,000 each to pay for the journey. If he knows Sri Lanka, he knows that the average Sri LankanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ cannot afford this amount. Therefore, these people are not the “less fortunate” heƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ refers to – they are still in Sri Lanka awaiting the processing of their legitimate applications. His duplicity is exposed because he is fully aware that the humanitarian aspect is being introduced to cover the fact that these are people did not want to apply to come to Canada in the usual manner – after all he applied to come here so should know the legal process which is not to pay a large sum of money and get on a boat operated by the LTTE. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Also, he knows full well that non-Tamil Sri Lankans did not pay exorbitant amounts to enter Canada as bogus refugees. People who are law abiding citizens in Sri Lanka and other countries who want to immigrate to Canada have to provide security clearances, undergo medical examination, provide detailed information of their qualifications and show that they have the ability to work in Canada as well as have sponsors. Obviously these boat peopleƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ chose this route because they could not provide that information or knew that they would not qualify.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
He is entitled to try to impress his bosses and curry favour with them with ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ this attempt.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He tries to make out that he is better than other Sri Lankans which he is obviously not given hisƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ inability to be truthful, honestƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and objective, but it is deplorable that he shouldƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ tarnish the good name of other Canadian Sri Lankans and Canadians in general who do not approve ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the Canadian government not acting in a responsible manner and not permitting people who have dubious backgrounds and large sums of money getting on boats in large numbers and invading Canada.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Yours truly,
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Ira de Silva
London, Ontario
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
P.S. I feel sure you will not publish given the stand of your paper regarding these Tamils. However, would you please do me the favour of sending this on to the writer so he is made aware that he is not fooling anyone but himself by this piffle. Thanks.
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:34 pm
In 2009, the Purchsing power parity (per capita) for Sri Lanka was $4500. Sri Lanka was ranked 120th in the world. The stats for Canada is $38,025 and rank 13th. It looks like these 492 persons are heading for a good life, well done, wish you all the best. The problem is, that there are 30 Million ( 30,000,000), UNHRC registered refugees in the world. Some have lived in camps for more that 35 years. What about them? The Canadians have a moral obligation to consider these genuine refugees.
I wonder how these 492 persons accumulated $45,000 each in Sri Lanka. Where does this money come from? Can anybody take a flight to Mexico and go by boat to Canada and claim residency? Further, I can not understand why these people could not travel 20 miles to India by boat, but travelled 10,000 miles to Canada. Mr.Vaiko would welcome them with open arms.