Statement on Canada-Sri Lanka Ties – August 18,2012
Posted on August 23rd, 2012

Ira de Silva London, Canada

H.E.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Bruce Levy
Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka
33A, 5th Lane
Colombo 3, Sri Lanka.

Dear Sir:

I have just read your statement to Sandasen Marasinghe published in The Island of August 18,2012. I regret the delay in responding but am doing so now as I feel compelled to askƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ how you could make a statement implying thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Canada has had continued friendly ties with Sri Lanka and never promoted terrorism in Sri Lanka as there is ample proof to the contrary.

While there is an element of truth that Canada maintained friendly ties even before Sri Lanka achieved independence would it not be correct to say that before Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain it was a part of the British empire as was Canada which meant that Canada just followed the dictates of British policy? Canada could not have had independent policy towards Sri Lanka pre independence. After independence relations were indeed cordial but did it not come to an abrupt end since 1983 when thousands of Tamils used the riots to flood into Canada falsely claiming discrimination and persecution? Since then, merely to get the so-called Tamil vote, particularly in the greater Toronto area, although there were ties, they became increasingly unfriendly and in the past few years have become downright antagonistic.

Would you characterise the attitude and statements of the current Canadian Foreign Minister as “friendly” when he criticises Sri Lanka harshly atƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  international forum such as the U.N. accusing the country of alleged war crimes without any proof but carrying the message dictated to him by the LTTE lobby? Was it a friendly statement on Sri Lanka when John Baird said “other countries have taken ten years for reconciliation, other countries never reconcile …but it’s incredibly important”. Then we have the Prime Minister making statements before and after the last Commonwealth Conference regarding Sri Lanka. After he had met with the leaders of the LTTE in Toronto he threatened to stop Sri Lanka from attending the conference and when that failedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ he saidƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ” I intend to make clear to my fellow leaders of the Commonwealth that if we do not see progress in Sri Lanka in terms of human rights and some of the issues that you raised, (the you being the LTTE leadership) I will not as Prime Minister be attending that Commonwealth summit.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

The most unfriendly act by Canada and the biggest lie from you was that Canada never promoted terrorism in Sri Lanka. Can you deny that you are unaware of the following when it was carried in the Canadian media:

The cheque to buy the explosives that were used to blow up the Central Bank was sent by Tamil Canadians. This fact was reported by none other than the RCMP and widely reported in Canada. That bomb killed 114 people and injured 1338 in 1996 and also resulted in economic damage to Sri Lanka. By what stretch of imagination wouldƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  you consider such an act as friendly and not terrorism?

For a period of thirteen years the Government of Canada, although it was well aware of the activities of the LTTE supporters in Canada collecting money to fund terrorism in Sri Lanka which killed thousands, turned a blind eye to this activity although it continually stated in international fora that it opposed the funding of terrorism from Canada. Again Canadian media reported that approximately two million dollars a month was sent to the LTTE from Canada for terrorism by the LTTE.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  If you consider that a friendly act Sri Lankans would have been overjoyed if Canada had severed it’s “friendly ties” and stopped funding the terror.

Was Canada not promoting terrorism in Sri Lanka when the Finance Minister Mr. Paul Martin and another cabinet minister Ms. M. Minna, as well as several other Members of Parliament attended a fund raising event held by the front organization of the LTTE in Toronto in May 2000? They paid $60.00 per head when they were well aware that the money was been collected by the LTTE to terrorise Sri Lanka.

The above are but a a few events that illustrate not friendly ties but extremely unfriendly if not violent acts against the people of Sri Lanka by Canada. The constant statements by parliamentarians as well as the local politicians against Sri Lanka were all given wide publicity in Canada as part ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  LTTE propaganda. Did you miss all this or did you consider it not important to know so that you could make such blatantly false statements? You seem to be in a state of denial regarding the actual facts as are most of the politicians in Canada. In their haste to get Tamil votes they were responsible for the deaths of thousands of Sri Lankans, in other words they have blood on their hands because those who funded the bombs and guns that killed Sri Lankans and destroyed the country are as responsible as those who did the actual killing and bombing.

If you are a person of integrity and honesty you should review the above information. If Canada does mean that it wants friendly ties with Sri Lanka, it should accept the role that it played during the period of terrorism in Sri Lanka, stop continuing to believe the lies of the LTTE supportersƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and make a genuine effort to help Sri LankaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  recover from the destruction caused to the country and it’s people by Canada’s unfriendly acts of the past. I feel sure that Sri Lankans would forgive and forget and truly friendly ties will be restored.

Yours truly,

Ira de Silva
London, Canada

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