Sri Lankan Associations in Canada Seek Legal Action Against Ontario’s TGEWA

A meeting convened by Sri Lankan associations and six leading Buddhist temples in Canada discussed seeking legal action against a private member’s Bill passed in the Ontario Provincial Parliament to educate the children about a Sri Lankan ‘genocide’.

 The meeting coordinated by the Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition (SLCAC) also focused on ways to counter the dangerous effects of the TGEWA (Tamil Genocide Education Week Act) that might lead to bullying and harassment of school children hailing from Sinhala-Buddhist backgrounds.

 The class room and school yard bullying has already started against the children and grandchildren of the SinhalaBuddhist parents labelling them as the descendants of ‘genocide perpetrators’. Ontario on 6 May became the first jurisdiction in the world to recognise a genocide against Tamils in Sri Lanka as proposed by a Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) passed its third reading in the legislature. 

The TGEWA, also known as Bill 104, establishes seven days each year, 11 May to 18, during which Ontarians ‘are encouraged to educate themselves about, and to maintain their awareness of, the Tamil genocide and other genocides.’ There is no mention how ‘the other genocides’ will be discussed in schools. 

This act obviously targets the Sinhala school children who have no part or knowledge of political issues in a country thousands of miles away, only known as the land where their grandparents or parents were born. 

The Bill was launched by Scarborough-Rouge Park Progressive Conservative (PC) MPP Vijay Thanigasalam, who calls the passage of his Bill “a historic event for Tamil people in Ontario and across the world.” Ranjith Galabadaarachchi of the SLCAC said if anybody thinks Sri Lanka defeated terrorism in 2009, it is a misconception. The ideology and vast resources accumulated to achieve a separate homeland in Sri Lanka’s north are still intact, and the diaspora groups are very much active in other disruptive methods. 

“Now what they are trying is going to be a credible threat to the SinhalaBuddhists living in Canada. One of their major steps is the propaganda dished out by the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), which is very active in the West and European countries. They have realised that Sri Lanka will never allow a separate State, and now what they are trying to do is to target the Sinhalese in other countries through the help of various governments to achieve their Eelam dream,” he said. 

The passing of the TGEWA in Ontario is one major step some groups have taken to harass the Sinhala Buddhists, alleging that they were engaged in the ethnic cleansing of the Tamils since the 1948 independence of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon. 

“That is a complete lie,” said the SLCAC spokesperson. “No independent investigators or the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) has acknowledged the claims of genocide in Sri Lanka. The Tamil groups are also trying to introduce Bills in other Canadian provinces like Quebec. Their next plan embraces a worldwide strategy by trying to implement such Bills in European countries, the US, New Zealand and Australia where there is heavy Tamil presence”. Galabadaarachchi said we have two options. 

One is to bring a Motion to defeat Bill 104, ‘which is very, very unlikely.’ The next step is to take legal action against this move. He said it is a costly affair, and the associations need the support of all the Sri Lankans living in Canada and other countries. As a significant move, SLCAC and other Sri Lankan associations have retained a high-profile law firm in Toronto with an impressive track record to file a case to repeal the Bill. The team of five lawyers has assured that there is a strong case and confident of winning it. 

A Harvardqualified lawyer who is conversant with Canadian constitutional law leads the legal team. This case might go all the way to the supreme court, and the association is ready for that, the SLCAC treasurer assured. “We have to nip this cancer in the bud because it is directly affecting our children, most of whom were born and raised in Canada,” he added. 

Mental health expert Dr. Navodhi Hewage said this Bill has a terrible impact on our children and their mental health. “My 17-year-old son says this issue is being discussed widely on Social Media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. One dangerous result of this Bill is the creation of a lot of divisions in the classroom.

 In this age of Social Media, these rifts are created subtly,” she said. The duty of the parents and our religious leaders is to tell the children to bring the problems they face in the classroom or the school ground to the attention of their teachers. Dr. Hewage said that if the children keep quiet when they counter bullying incidents, it can create dangerous repercussions in the long run. 

“I have three teenage children, and they tell me that many students of other communities who don’t know anything about Sri Lanka are talking about the so-called Sri Lankan genocide on Social Media.”

Our parents have to be vigilant about the problem, she stressed. It might even grow into a racial issue isolating our children in the classroom. Already there are many divisions in the Ontario classrooms based on colour, religion and gender, and now with this genocide talk, a dangerous racial element is added to the divisions. The parents should educate the teachers who do not know Sri Lanka by talking with them and presenting the actual facts. 

A member of the audience said a son of a friend who is in a lower grade is being bullied about the ‘genocide’ and the little boy has gone to the extent of disowning his heritage. “He now introduces himself as a Guyanese,” he said. 

The Guyanese Indians look very similar to Sinhalese in their appearance and colour. Dr. Hewage said that bullying might have badly affected the child, but according to Canadian laws, a child’s mental health is very important. “This child has to be given counselling because disowning his roots is a sign of deeper mental issues. 

Usually, people have to be proud of their heritage. This child has an internal struggle to determine whether his classmates’ accusations that he is a child of genocide perpetrators are true. A problem like this has to be discussed with the school superintendent, principal, trustees and teachers. A student in Canada has a right to education despite differences in colour, ethnicity or religion. This is the area where the parents have to step in. I know some students who have tried to self-harm them in such instances without being unable to face bullying”. 

According to Canadian law, every child has the right to feel safe at home, school, and community (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1990). Research indicates that bullying behaviour doesn’t usually go away on its own and often gets worse when it needs to be dealt with directly. To stop the hurtful behaviour, adults need to support children who seek their help, according to a document issued by the Canadian Government on public safety. Ven. Ahangama Rathanasiri Thera, the Chief Abbot of the Toronto Buddhist Temple, said that every immigrant who comes to Canada wants to raise their children in the peaceful atmosphere of Canada and live happily.

 “Unfortunately, we know that some people in the Tamil community are trying to mislead the Canadian Government and certain politicians for parochial political gains. Certain Canadian politicians who have not tried to find the truth behind the allegations of genocide or the real background of Sri Lankan politics have supported passing a Bill detrimental to the peace in Canada. 

This act has directly threatened the Sinhala community and the people who believe in the Buddhist faith,” he stressed. “When our community faces injustice, we, as the monks representing the Buddhism, cannot turn a blind eye, and that is why today chief monks from six major Buddhist temples in Canada are participating in this important meeting. Not all the Tamils support this Bill. We appeal to sections in the Tamil community not to spread hate among our future generations. 

We are worried that our children born and raised here might become targeted because their heritage is Sinhala. Therefore, every Sri Lankan community in Canada has to cooperate to defeat the attempts of a few trying to disrupt harmony to earn votes to come to power in the next election,” the revered monk added. The Bill 104 was passed within a day by seven out of 124 Ontario MPPs present with absolutely no public or expert consultation. 

The Bill does not mention the atrocities perpetrated by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) nor the fact that LTTE is still a banned terrorist organisation in Canada. According to a news report, the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) congratulated Vijay Thanigasalam for presenting the TGEWA in Ontario’s Legislative Assembly. 

The TGTE also thanked Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford, Andrea Horwath (NDP) Leader of the official Opposition, Gurratan Singh MPP (NDP), Doly Begum MPP (NDP), Aris Babikian MPP (PC) and Tom Rakocevic MPP (NDP), for addressing the Legislative Assembly in support of the Bill. The SLCAC mentions that all the details about how to donate to the fund to seek legal help to repeal Bill 104 are in their website www. OntarioBill104.ca.