{"id":117942,"date":"2021-09-08T16:20:57","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T23:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=117942"},"modified":"2021-09-08T16:20:57","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T23:20:57","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-23-f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/09\/08\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-23-f\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 23 F"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

In 2019 a\nPrivate Member\u2019s Bill (Bill no104) titled An\nAct to Proclaim Tamil Genocide Education Week <\/strong>was placed before Ontario\nLegislative Assembly, Canada   by Vijay\nThanigasalam, MP for Scarborough-Rouge Park. Vijay Thanigasalam is a LTTE\nsupporter.  The move had been facilitated\nby the Committee on Regulations and Private Bills coming under the purview of\nLogan Kanapathi also of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. The Bill\nclaimed that 146,679 were killed in the final days of the Eelam War that\ncivilians were starved and Tamil children were forcibly taken away from their\nhomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The progress\nof this Bill was closely watched by the anti-Eelamists in Canada.  Several Sri Lankan organizations strongly\nopposed the Bill. Submissions were made in writing to the Standing Committee on\nregulations and Private Bills.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bill\nstalled at the second reading, Only 59 supported it. 66 either refrained from\nvoting or said \u2018No.\u2019 The Bill was then referred back to the relevant committee\nfor want of required support.  In the\nmeantime anti-Sri Lanka resolutions were passed in Brampton, Pickering and\nToronto Municipal Councils, though the matter was outside local politics.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 6,\n2021   Ontario Legislative Assembly,\nCanada, voted in favor of the Bill. It was carried through without a vote\ntaking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic which had restricted the\nparticipation of the majority of members. Vijay Thanigasalam declared the\npassage of the Bill \u2018a historic event for Tamil people in Ontario and across\nthe world.  Ontario is the first\ngovernment worldwide to pass such a law.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The newly\npassed Tamil Genocide Education Week Act establishes a week each year, May 11\nto 18, during which Ontarians are encouraged to educate themselves about, and\nto maintain their awareness of, the Tamil genocide and other genocides that\nhave occurred in world history. However, the Bill would not become law until\nOntario Lieutenant Governor General gave her consent on behalf of the Canadian\nGovernment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts saw\nthis Ontario move as very   significant.\nThis Bill is an attempt to legitimize the claim that a Tamil Genocide happened\nin Sri Lanka. Such projects intended to legitimize war crimes accusations,\nshould be nipped in the bud, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada-based\nDr. Chandre Dharmawardana said that the move in the Ontario Legislative\nAssembly was a prelude to the Diaspora grouping seeking to move a similar Bill in\nthe Canadian Parliament. The provincial move couldn\u2019t be dismissed lightly.  He appreciated the fact that the government of\nSri Lanka took up the issue with both Federal and Provincial authorities of\nCanada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be a serious mistake, on Sri Lanka\u2019s part, to consider\nthe genocide rap as a project of the Ontario Legislative Assembly instead of a\nCanadian move. The Canadian move is severely inimical to Sri Lanka. The Ontario\nproject would further strengthen the Geneva-led campaign meant to weaken Sri\nLanka, said Shamindra Ferdinando. The Geneva onslaught will take a new turn\nwith this Genocide charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\nacted promptly. The Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa protested.  In Colombo, Foreign Minister Dinesh\nGunawardena   conveyed Sri Lanka\u2019s deep concern to Canadian High\nCommissioner.. Canadian High Commission in Colombo responded.\u201dIt is important\nto recognize the high degree of autonomy of the federal governments of the\nprovinces in Canada, including on issues such as this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti\nEelamists in Canada also responded. \nNeville Hewage,  went to Supreme\nCourt against the Act. He said that Ontario Legislative Assembly did not have\nthe jurisdiction to pass Bill 104  and\nthe facts presented in Bill 104 were completely false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahinda Gunasekera sent an open letter to.<\/sup>\nPrime Minister, Ministers, Premier of Ontario, Members of the Federal\nParliament\/ Ontario Legislature and GTA Mayors on the matter   It was\ntitled On the Impact of Ontario\u2019s Bill 104, Tamil Genocide Education Week Act,\n2021 and GTA ( Greater Toronto Area)Mayoral Proclamation of Tamil Genocide\nRemembrance Day on May 18th..<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed\nout that Eelam war IV was a civil war not a genocidal one and its was initiated\nby the LTTE not the government, that the UN has not declared the Eelam war to\nbe genocidal and that the Ontario Provincial Legislature does not have the\nauthority to determine Genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ontario\nCentre for Policy Research organized a webinar on LTTE Terrorism and Alleged\nTamil Genocide in June 2020 to discuss the Ontario Bill. The panel consisted of\nNeville Hewage, Sarath Chandrasekara and Chandre Dharmawardana.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 3 2021, the\nanti-Eelamists in Canada issued a joint statement. We are pleased to announce that the following\nSri Lankan-Canadian organizations have joined as a united front to fight a\nSuperior court case against the Ontario law on Tamil Genocide Education Week,\nSri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition (SLCAC) Canadian Sri Lankan Center for\nSocial Harmony (CSLCSH) Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA)\nand Sri Lanka Canada Association of Brampton (SLCAB). A 12-member steering\ncommittee will address aspects of the proceedings and fundraising campaigns, we\nhope to draw attention to the misinformation contained in the Act, and see that\nTamil Genocide Education Week Act is repealed,\nthis group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the 2nd of\nOctober 2020 Gary Anandasangaree, MP for Scarborough tabled a petition in the Canadian\nParliament.  He wanted Sri Lanka taken\nbefore the Committee established under the Convention\nAgainst Enforced Disappearances. He said, inter alia, that genocide in Sri\nLanka is unique among genocides in history because it has occurred over several\ndecades and under different governments before intensifying into a no-\nholds-barred war for nearly three decades and culminating in the mass\natrocities of 2009. Sri Lanka\u2019s historic violations against Tamils, such as\n1958 and 1983, in addition to the 2009 war must go before an international\ncourt. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada said that it could not comply\nsince it was not a member of CED. Full\nresponse from the Government of Canada can be found at: https:\/\/petitions.ourcommons.ca\/en\/Petition\/Details?Petition=432-00052<\/a>. Neville Hewage submitted a 619 page rebuttal\nagainst the petition. His full rebuttal can be found at: https:\/\/policy-research.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/01-Neville_Hewage_Report_432-00052_V3.pdf<\/a>  (continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS In 2019 a Private Member\u2019s Bill (Bill no104) titled An Act to Proclaim Tamil Genocide Education Week was placed before Ontario Legislative Assembly, Canada   by Vijay Thanigasalam, MP for Scarborough-Rouge Park. Vijay Thanigasalam is a LTTE supporter.  The move had been facilitated by the Committee on Regulations and Private Bills coming under the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117942","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=117942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}