{"id":114250,"date":"2021-05-14T15:59:21","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T22:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=114250"},"modified":"2021-05-14T15:59:21","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T22:59:21","slug":"ontarios-new-tamil-genocide-education-week-hailed-by-some-called-unfair-by-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/05\/14\/ontarios-new-tamil-genocide-education-week-hailed-by-some-called-unfair-by-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario&#8217;s new Tamil Genocide Education Week hailed by some, called unfair by others"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>BY\u00a0<a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.toronto.com\/toronto-author\/mike-adler\/E54D7B81-8D3C-40FD-BCC0-3247D2EC7918\/\">MIKE ADLER<\/a> Courtesy Toronto.com<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tamil Canadians support bill, while some Sri Lankan Canadians say &#8216;there is another side to the story&#8217;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dynamicmedia.zuza.com\/zz\/m\/original_\/2\/4\/24289dd1-51eb-4518-aeea-a1a277045ac6\/Anura%20Ferdinand_Super_Portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Anura Ferdinand of the Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition, and other members of the community objecting to Ontario\u2019s passage of Bill 104, are shown during a Zoom call on May 10, 2021. &#8211; Zoom screenshot<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tamil Canadians&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.toronto.com\/news-story\/10388745-scarborough-mpp-s-bill-passes-declaring-tamil-genocide-education-week-in-ontario\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hailed its passage as a historic event<\/a>, but other Ontario residents from Sri Lanka see unfairness in a bill proclaiming a Tamil Genocide Education Week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Members of the Sinhalese community reacted with dismay after Scarborough MPP Vijay Thanigasalam\u2019s Bill 104 received third reading at Queen\u2019s Park on May 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a May 10 news conference, some said they expected a legislature committee to hear their deputations against the Progressive Conservative MPP\u2019s bill, which declares a decades-long Sri Lankan civil war a&nbsp;genocide that the Sri Lankan state perpetrated against the Tamils,\u201d and proclaims May 11 to 18 an annual week to educate Ontarians about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The committee on May 5 heard no debate, sending the bill back for a final reading with a speed Sinhalese community members say was meant to help PC MPPs get re-elected next year in Greater Toronto ridings with large numbers of Tamil voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.toronto.com\/news-story\/10388745-scarborough-mpp-s-bill-passes-declaring-tamil-genocide-education-week-in-ontario\/\">Scarborough MPP&#8217;s bill passes, declaring Tamil Genocide Education Week in Ontario<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.toronto.com\/news-story\/9363753-scarborough-mpp-says-bill-on-sri-lankan-genocide-will-speed-healing\/\">Scarborough MPP says bill on Sri Lankan &#8216;genocide&#8217; will speed healing<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.toronto.com\/news-story\/9340611-timeline-sri-lanka-s-war-and-its-effects-on-toronto-s-tamil-community\/\">TIMELINE: Sri Lanka&#8217;s war and its effects on Toronto&#8217;s Tamil community<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.toronto.com\/news-story\/9341433-survivor-says-genocidal-crimes-of-sri-lanka-s-civil-war-keep-me-up-at-night-\/\">Survivor says &#8216;genocidal crimes&#8217; of Sri Lanka&#8217;s civil war &#8216;keep me up at night&#8217;<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Tamil-Canadian groups lobbied for the bill\u2019s passage, but other Sri Lankans lobbied against it, including&nbsp;Anura Ferdinand of the Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition. Ferdinand said that in 2019 his community met 71 MPPs who, he said, had no idea there is another side to the story here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ferdinand said the bill makes no mention of Sinhalese or other ethnic groups harmed in Sri Lanka during the war, which has not been called a genocide by the United Nations or Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ramila Senanayake, from Maple, said she sent Premier Doug Ford statements from Sinhalese-Canadian schoolchildren in Greater Toronto already unfairly targeted with this false narrative\u201d of genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Proclaiming a genocide education week, Senanayake said, is like a bell you ring. You can\u2019t unring it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She doesn\u2019t deny Tamils suffered during the war, but said school boards have allowed the separatist Tamil Tigers, who were defeated in 2009, to be seen as heroes, a view she said passing Bill 104 will support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make them into heroes and to make us into villains is a totally inaccurate retelling of our history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sanjee Perera said some children from his community identify themselves as Guyanese or Trinidadian at school to avoid being bullied over events in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An Ottawa man on May 10 launched a constitutional challenge against Bill 104 in Ontario Superior Court, arguing that declaring a genocide is up to the federal government, not the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanigasalam, whose family fled Sri Lanka during the war, could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A press release from the Scarborough-Rouge Park MPP, however, said the Conservative government, by passing the bill, demonstrated its commitment to fighting injustices and standing up for the Tamil people who call Canada home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY\u00a0MIKE ADLER Courtesy Toronto.com Tamil Canadians support bill, while some Sri Lankan Canadians say &#8216;there is another side to the story&#8217; Anura Ferdinand of the Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition, and other members of the community objecting to Ontario\u2019s passage of Bill 104, are shown during a Zoom call on May 10, 2021. &#8211; Zoom [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}