jiytd

June 18, 2007

56 Littles Road
Scarborough
On. M1B 5C5    (Tel. 416 281 1165)

Hon. Derek Lee, MP
Scarborough – Rough River
Scarborough.

Tamil community rallies at civic centre

Dear Mr. Lee,

I write in my capacity as a constituent of your riding and as a member of the Thamil Canadian community. I am somewhat disappointed with the interview you gave to the Scarborough Mirror.

For your information I append below the letter I wrote to the editor, Scarborough Mirror clarifying the difference between the national flag of Thamil Eelam and the flag of the LTTE. Though both carry the Tiger symbol (Sri Lanka national flag depicts a lion with a sword in its paw) they are not the same. The tiger symbol is historically significant to the Thamil people since it was the flag of the imperial Cholas who ruled Thamil Nadu. They were the first to build and command an imperial Navy which controlled the Indian ocean between 8th and 13 th century.

I also take this opportunity to draw your attention to the ruling given by the Supreme Court on the national certificate process declaring section 40.1 as ultra vires of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It was under this section which you vigorously supported that Manickavasagam Suresh was arrested and incarcerated for two years in prison. The then Liberal Immigration Minister Sergio Marchi signed the security certificate after opposing the very section 40.1 while sitting in the opposition benches. It was such naked display of ministerial arrogance, insensitiveness, down right opportunism, misuse of state power that drove the Liberal Party to the opposition benches once again!

For your information we displayed Canadian flags and sang the Canadian national anthem as we always do at the commencement of the rally. I hope to hear from you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Yours truly,

V.Thangavelu

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June 17, 2007 56 Littles Road

Scarborough

On. M1B 5C5

The editor,

Scarborough Mirror,

Scarborough.

Tamil community rallies at civic centre

Dear Editor,

I refer to the news story Tamil community rallies at civic centre carried in your issue of June 12, 2007. To begin with I wish to thank you for the wide coverage given to the rally in marked contrast to the so called national newspapers which tucked it in a corner. The reporting overall was fair, although your reporter could not resist the temptation to add some spice to the story by contacting politicians who attended the rally as well as those who did not and ask some embarrassing questions. The questions were meant to scare the politicians away from such rallies in future. However, most politicians stood their ground, although a few developed cold feet and tried to wriggle out.

Scarborough Mirror is a community newspaper. As such it should not indulge in such scare tactics which is the stable diet of tabloid newspapers. In fact a sizeable readership of the Scarborough Mirror are Thamils. Thamils who contested the last City Council elections came close second in three ridings in Scarborough.

Your reporter instead of giving prominence to the fact that the “rally was meant to inform Canadians about the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka, particularly recent human rights violations such as disappearances and mass deportations”, began the news story with the sensational claim “hundreds in the crowd waved symbols of the banned Tamil Tigers”. I think the number of flags displayed amounted to not more than 25 for a capacity crowd of 5,000!

It is unfortunate he was misinformed about the significance of the symbols displayed at the rally by some enthusiastic youths on their own volition. The symbols, especially the flags bore the tiger symbol alright, but they were not the flags of the banned LTTE. This smatter could have been clarified with the organizers. Since the event was a peace rally, organizers did not want to display or carry any symbols, not because they were illegal but they did not want to mix peace with politics.

Yours truly

V.Thangavelu

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June 17, 2007 56 Littles Road

Scarborough

On. M1B 5C5

The editor,

Scarborough Mirror,

Scarborough.

Tamil community rallies at civic centre

Dear Editor,

It is unfortunate he was misinformed about the significance of the symbols displayed at the rally by some enthusiastic youths on their own volition. The symbols, especially the flags bore the tiger symbol alright, but they were not the flags of the banned LTTE. This smatter could have been clarified with the organizers. Since the event was a peace rally, organizers did not want to display or carry any symbols, not because they were illegal but they did not want to mix peace with politics.

For your elucidation it is an offence if one provides “material support” to the LTTE. Material support means providing funds or holding membership. Whether waving even the real tiger flags will constitute an offence is debatable or an issue that has to be tested in a court of law. The flags your reporter saw at the rally are the national flags of Thamil Eelam. .

Yours truly,

V.Thangavelu

Tamil community rallies at civic centre

Local politicians speak at rally attended by thousands

June 12, 2007 04:59 PM
MIKE ADLER (Scarborough Mirror)

Politicians of Canada's three largest political parties expressed solidarity with Canadian Tamils in Scarborough this week, but did so as hundreds in the crowd waved symbols of the banned Tamil Tigers.

Besides its sheer size - about 5,000 people filling Albert Campbell Square and the surrounding steps - the rally was notable for the amount of Tiger paraphernalia displayed. Hundreds of flags bore the tiger-and-crossed-rifles symbol of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, added last April to Canada's list of terrorist organizations.

Scores in the square beside Scarborough Civic Centre on Monday evening held up portraits of Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabakaran, declaring him to be president of an already-independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka.

Despite this, politicians from all levels of government expressed sympathy with the Tamil community and said Canada must do more to make sure the decades-long civil war in Sri Lanka ends.

Canada must use its international influence to restore a ceasefire on the island and end the human rights violations there, said Ontario New Democratic Leader Howard Hampton, who accused Canada's current Conservative leadership and the former Liberal government of ignoring "the suffering of the people of Sri Lanka."

"No one should be prepared to allow the killing to continue," he said, adding he also spoke for federal NDP Leader Jack Layton.

Scarborough Centre MPP Brad Duguid delivered thanks to people in the crowd, on behalf of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and himself, "for courageously standing up for human rights. Our Tamil community has a history of prevailing," he added.

"We will stand up to those who kill, those who murder and commit human rights abuses," said Duguid. "I wish you all the courage you'll need to carry on this fight."

On Tuesday, the MPP said he had not seen Tiger flags before. "I wasn't even sure what they were until I asked somebody," Duguid said, but added he was at what he still considers to have been a peace rally to address families, not a part of the community that is "not shy" about expressing its support for the Tigers.

Given what is happening in Sri Lanka, "it is difficult to expect a dispassionate response" at a rally, he said.

Ward 42 (Scarborough-Rouge River) Councillor Raymond Cho, who also spoke, said he saw the people at the rally but didn't notice the Tiger flags waving by the stage. "Next time if they ask me to speak I'll pay attention to them," he said Tuesday.

"I just spoke and left."

Though the Canadian Tamil Congress has organized many similar rallies in the past and invited media to the square on Monday, spokesperson David Poopalapillai said the event was organized by other groups.

"We were not in charge of it," he said. "Sometimes we let others do things because that's the way democracy works."

The rally was meant to inform Canadians about the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka, particularly recent human rights violations such as disappearances and mass deportations, Poopalapillai said.

It is a crime in Canada to either finance or be a member of groups on the list of terrorist organizations but not necessarily to associate with them.

"Raising funds (for the Tigers) is illegal; I don't know about raising flags," Poopalapillai said.

One man handing out Tiger flags and leading cheers said he was a member of the Canada-Tamil Eelam Liberation Students Association, a small group he said organized the rally. The man wouldn't give his name or be interviewed during the rally and said no one from the organization could speak either. "Maybe later on," he said.

It's a shame Prime Minister Stephen Harper "will not recognize Tamils as a nation," Scarborough-Agincourt MP Jim Karygiannis said on stage during the rally.

Karygiannis then called the ban on LTTE a shame and promised many MPs, especially Liberals, "will stand shoulder to shoulder with you" to ensure "peace with justice" in Sri Lanka.

His fellow Liberal MPs Derek Lee (Scarborough-Rouge River) and Dan McTeague (Pickering-Scarborough East) were invited to deliver statements by phone at the rally but in the end did not.

Lee said he has been to events where the Tiger flag was visible and has avoided being photographed with it. While he does understand the desire of some Canadian Tamils to fly that flag, Lee said he would be more comfortable if his constituents rallied around the Canadian flag to make their points.

The MP added he has sympathy for the community's concerns and that, "I can accept they would exercise their freedoms to the extent possible."