WikiLeaks: Canada Banned LTTE, But Did Not Ban Canadian Tiger Front Orgs – US

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 001029 

SIPDIS 

SIPDIS 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2016 
TAGS: CA EFIN ETTC KTFN PREL PTER CE
SUBJECT: CANADA OUTLAWS LTTE/TAMIL TIGERS 

REF: A. TORONTO 275 

     B. TORONTO 151 
     C. MADER/LAMBERT 3/31/06 EMAIL 

Classified By: EconMinCouns B. Mohler for reasons 1.4b,d 


1.  (C)  Summary:  Canada's Conservative-minority government 
domestically designated the LTTE/Tamil Tigers under Canada's 
Criminal Code on April 10, 2006.  As a result of this 
listing, participating in Tiger activities (including 
fundraising) is a criminal offense and financial institutions 
must report any financial transactions made by the Tamil 
Tigers (or listed aliases): the Tigers are estimated to raise 
millions of dollars annually in Canada, sometimes through 
extortion.  This listing is an example of the 
Conservative-led government's strengthening of anti-terrorism 
policies, which the Conservative Party promised as part of 
its platform during the 2005/2006 federal elections.  End 
summary. 

2. (C)  On April 10, the GOC domestically listed as 
terrorists under the Canadian Criminal Code the LTTE/Tamil 
Tigers (other listed aliases can be found in the announcement 
by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions 
(OFSI), www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca.)  The Tigers are the 39th 
terrorist group to be outlawed under Canada's Criminal Code 
and the first since May 2005.  The Embassy was informed of 
the probable listing at the end of March, 2006, and had been 
invited to a pre-announcement briefing the morning of April 
10; however, the news was leaked by the National Post two 
days earlier.  Comment:  our Department of Foreign Affairs 
and International Trade (DFAIT) contact told us that, while 
he knew that the National Post, a Conservative-linked 
newspaper, would be breaking the story, he had not expected 
the news to be printed two days before the government's 
official announcement and only one day after the decision. 
This confusion on the part of DFAIT's working-level staff 
suggests either a disconnect between the government and its 
chosen media voice or a disconnect between the rank-and-file 
bureaucrats and their new political bosses in the 
Conservative minority government.  End comment. 

3. (SBU)  The LTTE had previously been listed under Canada's 
less-stringent United Nations Suppression of Terrorism 
Regulations (UNSTR).  Under both the UNSTR and the Canadian 
Criminal Code, Canadian financial institutions and foreign 
branches operating in Canada are required to review their 
records on a continuing basis for the listed entities and 
report findings on a monthly basis to OFSI.  If, in the 
course of these reviews, institutions find that they are 
holding accounts for or contracts with listed organizations, 
the institutions are required to report this information to 
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian 
Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).  In addition, 
institutions that are also reporting entities under Canada's 
Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing 
Act must also submit Terrorist Property Reports to the 
Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada 
(FINTRAC). 

4. (C) Beyond the finance implications of this listing, 
domestic designation under the Criminal Code of the Tamil 
Tigers means that it will now be a criminal offense to 
participate in Tiger activities, and anyone convicted of 
financially supporting the Tigers could face up to ten years 
in prison.  The GOC did not, however, list the many Canadian 
front organizations for the Tigers, despite the fact that 
Canada's anti-terrorism act allows the GOC to designate 
terrorist groups and their front organizations; in the past, 
the CSIS has stated that eight front organizations support 
Qthe CSIS has stated that eight front organizations support 
the Tigers in Canada.  Comment:  Although it is unclear how 
the Tigers have been moving their Canadian funds out of the 
country, significant amounts were reportedly raised by 
mortgage fraud as well as fund-raising within the Tamil 
community.  These and other funds may have been held in 
Canadian bank accounts (see reftel B.) The prominent 
front-page coverage leaking the anticipated designation of 
the Tigers on Saturday, followed a full two days later by the 
official requirement for banks to report Tiger transactions 
and accounts, may have allowed funds to be withdrawn by the 
Tigers.  End comment. 

5. (SBU) Approximately a quarter of the world's Tamil 
population lives outside of Sri Lanka.  Canada is home to the 
largest Tamil diaspora, estimated at roughly 200,000 (see 
reftel B), and Tamils are currently Canada's fastest growing 
ethnic group.  The majority of Tamils live in the Toronto 
area, giving it the largest Tamil urban population of any 
city in the world including Sri Lanka itself.  Experts have 
estimated that in the 1990s, over 80 percent of the Tamil 
Tigers' military budget came from overseas sources, and 
various reports have estimated that the Canadian Tamil 

OTTAWA 00001029  002 OF 002 

diaspora was a source of between $1-10 million annually.  A 
recent report from Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org) 
highlighted the role of Canadian Tamils in funding "The Final 
War".  In this report, Human Rights Watch focused on signs it 
had found of extensive extortion by the Tigers within the 
Canadian Tamil community, listing examples of Tamil Canadians 
who were threatened both in Canada and on visits to Sri 
Lanka. 

6. (C)  The Human Rights Watch report received extensive 
press coverage in Canada and may have spurred the 
Conservative minority government to push through a 
designation that the Conservatives had demanded for many 
years while in Opposition.  However, our DFAIT contacts claim 
that the designation has been in the works since the Fall of 
2005, before the Liberal government fell.  If, in fact, the 
Liberals began the process to list the Tigers, the 
Conservatives are not sharing the credit now.  While the 
Liberals were in power, they refused calls to list the 
Tigers, claiming that they did not want to interfere with Sri 
Lanka's peace process.  A former Canadian ambassador to Sri 
Lanka, Martin Collacott, told the National Post that this 
refusal to list the Tigers actually hindered peace efforts. 
Collacott is quoted as saying, "The Tigers and their 
supporters in Canada and particularly Toronto had become 
adept at delivering votes from the Tamil community to Liberal 
candidates at election time, and as long as this support 
continued, the Liberals were prepared to let the Tigers have 
virtual free rein to carry out their activities (in Canada)." 

7. (C) During the federal election campaign before the 
January 2006 election, the Conservatives pledged to add the 
Tigers to Canada's official list of terrorist groups.  The 
Conservatives are casting this as part of a strengthening of 
Canadian counterterrorism policies underway since they took 
office; last week, the Conservative-led government also 
severed ties with the Palestinian Authority over the refusal 
of Hamas to moderate its stance toward Israel and forswear 
terrorism.  As reported in reftel A, Canada deported a 
leading Tamil gang leader (Jeyaseelam Thuraisingam) the day 
the Conservative Party won the federal election, although on 
criminal, not terrorist, grounds.  The addition of the Tigers 
to the Criminal Code is expected to assist in prosecution and 
deportation of Tamil gangsters, as well as combat Tamil 
fundraising in Canada. 

8. (C) Comment:  The decision to list the Tigers under the 
Criminal Code comes as no surprise from a Conservative 
government that has been urging such a move for years.  The 
Conservatives are not beholden to urban ridings with a large 
Sri Lankan population, which they did not win in any event 
and probably have no hope of winning in the future: they 
therefore have greater freedom of action than the Liberals 
did.  The designation of the Tigers clears up a basic 
incongruity in Canada, where the Tigers were listed under one 
set of rules but not another, and brings Canada into 
alignment with its close allies who have listed the Tigers. 
It is also another indication of the current government's 
desire to act decisively, both to distinguish itself from the 
previous government and to show leadership and resolve, with 
or without international cover.  End comment. 

Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 

WILKINS