Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104

United Sri Lankan Canadian platform to deliver actions!

Letter from Dr. Dhammika Herath

Dear Hon. Primier,

In introducing Bill C-104,  Mr. V. Thanigasalam claims:

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Tamil-Ontarians have families still suffering in their homeland in the north and east of the island of Sri Lanka. They have lost their loved ones and have been physically or mentally traumatized by the genocide that the Sri Lankan state perpetrated against the Tamils during the civil war which lasted from 1983 to 2009, and especially so in May of 2009. Genocide is the deliberate and organized killing of a group or groups of people, with the intention of destroying their identity as an ethnic, cultural or religious group. Acts of genocide against the Tamils started in 1948 after Sri Lanka gained its independence and were perpetrated through Sinhala-Buddhist centric government policies, pogroms, land grabs and ethnic cleansing. The United Nations Organization estimates that in May 2009 alone about 40,000 to 75,000 Tamil civilians were killed. Other estimates place the death toll at 146,679 civilians. These figures only reflect the death toll in 2009 leading up to May 18, the day on which the civil war ended. The loss of Tamil civilian lives during the genocide, which continued for decades in Sri Lanka, is much higher.

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Now can you please ask Mr. Thanigasalam to answer following questions by looking at the two Tables below about Sri Lankan Tamils  in Sri Lanka (no Indian Tamils counted here):

1. If, as Mr. Thanigasalam claimed, the “Acts of genocide against the Tamils started in 1948 after Sri Lanka gained its independence and were perpetrated through Sinhala-Buddhist centric government policies, pogroms, land grabs and ethnic cleansing“: how come Sri Lankan Tamils thrived in all the Sinhala dominating provinces (all the provinces except North and East where Tamils are the majority) both before the war (1911 to 1981) and during the war (1981 to 2012)?

For Mr. Thanigalasalam to see the relevant facts for my question, he could compare Tamil population GROWTH in relatively peaceful time (1911 to 1981) in the North and East provinces and in the outside of North and East where the majority (about 90%) are Sinhalese (Table 1). If genocide happened since 1948, how come Tamil population GREW in Sinhala dominating areas (2.72% per year) which is ALMOST DOUBLE their growth in their so called Northern homeland (1.44% per year). The total number of Tamils in these Sinhala dominating areas grew from 79,100 in 1911 to 530, 138 by 1981 or MORE THAN SEVEN FOLD! Where in this world an ethnic group expanded by 7 fold, if they have faced genocide?

Even during the 30 years of LTTE brutalities from 1981 to 2009, Sri Lankan Tamil population GREW in almost all the Sinhala dominating provinces (Table 2). Particularly in the Western province where about 60 percent of the country’s GDP is generated, the Tamils grew by 1.32% per year from 228, 516 to 339, 370 where the majority Sinhalese grew at a lower rate of 1.30% per year. Western province is the heart of Sri Lanka and the so called ” Sinhala-Buddhist centric government policies pogroms, land grabs and ethnic cleansing” could have compltely wiped out Tamils in the Western province. Lo and behold, in Western Province, Tamil population increased by 48.5% from 1981 to 2012 where as the Sinhalese (so called perpetrator) increased ONLY by 47.6% during the same time.

Mr. Ford please ask from Mr. Thanigalasalam why 28.4% of his kith and kin live outside of their so called  homeland in North and East among the Sinhalease majority (2nd Table), facing the threat of genocide. This was in 1981,  and even better in 2012 ! This share has increase to 29.6% by 2012. If genocide happen, why MORE tamils live among the Sinhala majority at the end of war (in 2012) than at the begining of it (1981)?

Mr. Thanigalasalam PLEASE DO NOT LIE. Don’t deceive Ontarians with lies. NO GENOCIDE HAPPEN IN SRI LANKA Period

Thank you very much.

Dhammika Herath

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