LankaWeb Weekly Editorial

April14th. 2011

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Canada despit being a Nation of great compassion towards human suffering, always ready to extend a helping hand to alleviate the needs of incapacitated, impoverished and endangered people around the world has often proved that there is a zero tolerance policy towards global terrorism where no leniencies are given to proven terrorist supportives where an immediate deportation order is issued to the individuals or groups concerned and has become more evident in the related policies of the present Administration.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The latest such deportation highlights the case of Mrs Sugunanayake Joseph the widow of former Sri Lankan member of Parliament the Late Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham a known Tamil Tiger activist who was was assassinated during midnight mass at a church in Sri Lanka on Christmas Eve 2005.

Mrs. Joseph, a lady of means and education was granted temporary refugee status in Canada soon after her husband’s death but has recently been issued with a deportation order based on his leanings towards the Tiger terrorists and the Canadian Authorities appear to have latched onto her supportive role in making the decision to deport her.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Ironically the former Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham at the time of Mr.Pararajasingham’s assassination spoke at a memorial service for her husband, who was then a Sri Lankan MP, calling him a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-man of peaceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ seemingly quite aloof towards his true nature relative to his objectives and beliefs and today in retrospect it reflects how apathetic certain politicians can be when they adulate the likes of Pararajasingham who in all probabilities collectively contributed to much of the anguish and suffering the Nation of Sri Lanka was subjected to through the Tamil tiger insurrection lasting decades although he may have relented this during the later stages of his life.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ And now five years down the road, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada has ordered his widow a 74-year-old Toronto grandmother deported, on the basis of supporting her late husbandƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s objectives and beliefs as a Tamil Tiger sympathiser, citing his role as an activist of the same group while being a member of Parliament representing the Tamil National Assembly (which was deemed a front for the terror group by organizations such as Amnesty International Canada ) and accompanying him to related events which in the ruling of the Canadian Government was tantamount to involvement with a designated terrorist organization and a clear indication of Canada’s no nonsense stance towards global terrorism.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Although in a media statement by Mrs Joseph that neither she nor her husband were terrorists or terrorist supportives while pleading innocence that he was a mere “man of the people.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ there were many revelations about him and his activities as a TNA parliamentarian based on intelligence reports that he was indeed involved with the Tamil Tigers with tangible evidence to prove this.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Mrs.Joseph was also wounded in the midnight mass shooting and recovered. Shortly afterward, the Federal Government of Canada issued a visitorƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s visa so she could “flee to safety” in Canada, where her son and daughter are citizens.

But some years ago when she made a refugee claim in 2007, the Canadian Refugee Board alleged that Mrs. Joseph was inadmissible because she had been complicit in crimes against humanity and had belonged to a terrorist organization in Sri Lanka.

The related facts about the deportation order are as follows and posted in the Canadian media quoted here:

A refugee board hearing began in July 2009 and continued over the next two years.

In a Feb. 17 decision, adjudicator Oksana Kowalyk found that by a series of associations, Joseph was, in effect, a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Although neither Joseph nor her husband had formal membership in the LTTE, he was one of 22 Sri Lankan MPs who formed a coalition in 2001 known as the Tamil National Assembly, which pushed for peace negotiations between the government and the leadership of the Tamil independence movement.

The Tamil National Assembly functioned as the LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s alter ego in Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s parliament, Kowalyk concluded in her decision.

And by supporting her husbandƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s activities as a member of the MPsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ coalition, Joseph also furthered the LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s objectives, Kowalyk found.

The adjudicator based her conclusions in part on a letter from Amnesty International Canada, which described the Tamil National Assembly as a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-proxyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ for the LTTE.

While there will be the usual appeal procedures regarding this deportation order on the basis that the TNA was not a front for the LTTE there is incriminating evidence that in fact it was exactly this albeit feigning non violence and various other flimsy arguments but if the TNA was even marginally in favour of the LTTE there is no getting behind the fact that it was indeed supportive of the LTTE and hard to convince the panel of any apellate hearing that his was not the case.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There have been a few disgruntlements recently by certain concerned Canadian Sri Lankans anongst others that the Harper Administration in Canada seems to show leniency and tolerance towards Tamil Tiger sympathy or affiliations towards their cause and this is a clear example of the inaccuracy of this concept. Recent statistics also indicate that terrorist related deportations have increased since 2010 where some deportations have involved Tamil Tiger sympathisers and based on Government policy this will continue.

It is indeed a shining example of Canada’s No Nonsense Policy towards Terrorism!

There have been fears expressed by Mrs. Joseph that she could be subjected to the same fate which befell her late husband which could be instrumental in a reversal of the decision to deport her on compassionate grounds but a matter for the Canadian authorities which does not detract from Canada’s perspective of responding to terrorism.