Boycott threat embodies sharp turn in Canada’s ties with Sri Lanka
By Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News
OTTAWA — Esan Satkunarajah doesn’t feel anger towards the Conservative government, even if he believes it bears some responsibility for recent events in his native Sri Lanka, and hasn’t treated Tamils like himself fairly over the years.
The MV Sun Sea cargo ship brought 492 Tamil migrants to the B.C. coast in August 2010.
Photograph by: File photo , Postmedia News
OTTAWA — Esan Satkunarajah doesn’t feel anger towards the Conservative government, even if he believes it bears some responsibility for recent events in his native Sri Lanka, and hasn’t treated Tamils like himself fairly over the years.
Canada is standing alone in threatening to boycott this year’s Commonwealth leaders’ summit in Sri Lanka because of that country’s abysmal human rights record and refusal to reconcile with the minority Tamil population.
Yet Canada was among the countries standing on the sidelines as Sri Lankan forces crushed Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009, while Conservative ministers have described Tamil asylum seekers who arrived by boat as “criminals or terrorists.”
Some of the nearly 200,000 Tamils in Canada still harbour resentment towards the government, but many like Satkunarajah are happy it has finally come around to their side — even if there are questions as to what prompted the change of heart.
“Obviously yes, in my view Canada and the international community should have done more before,” Satkunarajah said by phone from his office in Scarborough, Ont. “Many problems could have been prevented if they had taken action. But better late than never.”
On May 18, Tamils across Canada will mark the fourth anniversary of the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, whose final phase is believed to have cost as many as 20,000 lives.
It will be a much more sombre occasion than four years ago, when thousands of Tamils were in the streets of Ottawa and Toronto demanding Canada pressure the Sri Lankan government into stopping its attack.
The Conservative government did join the international community in calling for both sides to minimize civilian casualties and engage in political dialogue.
But they had listed the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist group shortly after coming to power in 2006, and shared the hope that a decisive Sri Lankan military victory over the Tigers would end the Asian nation’s 26-year civil war and usher in a new era of peace and reconciliation.
The war did end, but the Sri Lankan government continued persecuting the country’s Tamil minority, which included discrimination, harassment and detention, even as the broader human rights situation in the country worsened.
Even then, when two ships carrying hundreds of Tamil asylum seekers arrived off Canada’s coast, the Conservatives warned that they could be carrying “terrorists or criminals.”
Pictures of those ships were used in the 2011 election campaign when the Tories promised to crack down on human smuggling if re-elected.
“They acted strongly, and frankly negatively, unfortunately, in not stressing the rights of people who are arriving to claim refugee status,” said John Argue, Sri Lanka co-ordinator for Amnesty International.
Canadian Tamil Congress national spokesman David Poopalapillai said there are still some Tamils in Canada who are still upset over what they feel was years of mistreatment and ignorance by the Conservative government.
But he says the majority are happy Canada is now in the vanguard of pressing Sri Lanka on its human rights record, and that the government’s threat to boycott November’s Commonwealth leaders summit is widely applauded.
There have been questions over what exactly prompted the Conservatives’ new attitude towards Sri Lanka, with the Sri Lankan government itself alleging the government is simply trying to woo Tamil voters in key ridings in Toronto and other major cities.
Others wonder whether the government, which has made it more difficult for people from countries like Sri Lanka to apply for refugee status in Canada, simply doesn’t want to deal with more Tamils arriving by boat off the coast of British Columbia.
Argue said the government has been “inconsistent” by speaking out about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka while simultaneously making it more difficult for people from the country to seek asylum in Canada.
And still some believe the government came to the belated realization that the conflict was more complicated than it had initially believed when it saw only a terrorist group fighting the Sri Lankan government.
“The government’s frame was that these people (Tamils) were associated with terrorism,” said NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar. “They thought it was a black and white situation. There was true ignorance on this issue.”
Poopalapillai says the government simply feels a sense of “betrayal” after the Sri Lankan government broke years of promises that it would improve its human rights record and integrate Tamils into society.
“After the war, Canada expected that normalcy would come back and the (Sri Lankan) government would address the root causes of the conflict, which didn’t take place,” he said.
“So this is a principled stand that the government and all other Canadian political parties have taken here based on international values, including Canadian values.”
A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said the government “has always promoted the principles of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Sri Lanka.”
“Canada will continue to monitor events in Sri Lanka and do what we can to try to increase pressure on the government of Sri Lanka to make changes,” Rick Roth added.
lberthiaume@postmedia.com
