Canada Blasted over Protest;: Deepak Obhrai, parliamentary secretary for the foreign affairs minister, RESPONDS:

Canada Blasted over Protest
Mar 15, 2009, 00:53 Digg this story!

Deepak Obhrai Member of Parliament, Canada
Outraged by a massive pro-Tamil Tigers demonstration on Parliament Hill last week, the Sri Lankan high commissioner is calling on Canadian authorities to crack down on public shows of support for the terrorist organization.

On Thursday, hundreds of Tamils from Montreal and Toronto descended on Parliament Hill in a rally that far surpassed previous such protests in terms of overt support for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE, which the Canadian government outlawed in 2006 under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The protest was particularly controversial because the steps of Parliament were awash in a sea of red flags emblazoned with a roaring tiger in front of two crossed rifles—the Tamil Tigers' banner.

In an interview with Embassy last week, Sri Lankan High Commissioner Dayanada Perera said he was outraged Canadian authorities allowed the rally to continue.

"Your government should have climbed down and not permitted them to wave the LTTE flags because it's a banned terrorist organization," he said. "The Canadian government must decide once and for all whether they are going to permit this organization to violate the laws of Canada and permit them to carry on regardless of the laws banning terrorism.

"There is a limit to the freedom of speech," Mr. Perera continued. "I'm sure there must be some legislation which does not allow the support of a terrorist organization or the glorification of terrorism in any way."

Mr. Perera said he has complained to Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon about such incidents in the past, including the burning of a Sri Lankan flag at a recent rally at York University in Toronto.

The LTTE, a Tamil ethnic front, has been locked in an armed struggle for decades with the Sri Lankan government, agitating for a sovereign Tamil homeland in northern Sri Lanka. In recent months, the Sri Lankan army has launched a crushing offensive against the LTTE, capturing its strongholds.

Hundreds of Tamil Tiger flags were flown, while protestors held photographs of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who has used child soldiers and is wanted by Interpol for terrorism, murder and organized crime.

The crowd chanted slogans, including "Prabhakaran our leader" and "LTTE—Freedom Fighters."

Roygardiner Wignarajah, a spokesman for the International Human Cultural Union, which organized the rally, said the protestors believe the LTTE is "fighting for the Tamils' rights" in the face of "full-scale genocide" by the Sri Lankan government.

Deepak Obhrai, parliamentary secretary for the foreign affairs minister, said the government has received Mr. Perera's complaints, but does not plan to take any action against such incidents in the future.

He said that LTTE funding channels from Canada have been blocked and that the government has cut all contact with the group, but no action will be taken against peaceful LTTE protests.

"It is a banned terrorist organization," Mr. Obhrai said. "However, this is Canada, and in Canada there is the right to freedom of expression and assembly. If [protesters]...become violent or something, yes, then the RCMP would move in but otherwise, like anybody else, there is a right to expression."

Similarly, an RCMP spokeswoman said the police force would intervene on such protests only as necessary to "preserve the peace and uphold the law."

"The freedom of speech, that we do respect," she said. "If any offenses happen while a protest is going on, we will act. If there are threats to national security, we will respond."

Liberal MP Attends

While the demonstration in itself garnered little attention from the government, Conservatives attacked Liberal MP Gurbax Malhi, the only parliamentarian to attend the rally.

Soon after the rally, a Youtube video appeared of Mr. Malhi, surrounded by Tamil Tiger flags, speaking to the cheering crowd.

"For so many weeks, so many years, so many innocent people are killed in Sri Lanka and the government isn't doing anything," he said. "I would like to let you know that I am helping you guys, I am helping you because you are fighting, you are fighting for a right cause."

Mr. Malhi, who has been an MP since 1993 and represents a riding outside Toronto, told the crowd he knew from the many Tamils living in his riding that the Tamil-Canadian community has trouble getting visas for their families, and said he has "asked to raise this issue with the minister."

Minister of State for the Americas Peter Kent, on the floor of the House Thursday, said: "I am sickened by the pandering of a Liberal member on the front lawn of Parliament to a flagrant display of the symbols of a listed terrorist organization."

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney meanwhile, said: "We should not be encouraging public manifestations of support for a terrorist organization, in this instance one that has been condemned by UNICEF for their practice of recruiting child soldiers and forcing them into military service, and an organization that invented the tactic of suicide bombing and is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians."

Friday, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's office released a statement in which Mr. Mahli explained his attendance, pleading ignorance.

"Although a number of attendees at this rally chose to wave LTTE flags, I did not realize the significance of these flags, nor was I aware that other speakers made statements in support of the LTTE," Mr. Mahli wrote.

Mr. Obhrai said he believed Mr. Mahli "very well knew" it was a pro-LTTE rally, and said he gave a "rather lame excuse" for attending.

Mr. Malhi did not return phone calls for comment over the past week.

jdavis@embassymag.ca