Foreign Affairs Committee on April 1st, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Ms. Brown. We're out of time.

Mr. Ratnamalala.

[Hasaka Ratnamalala]

I would just like to add to that point.

There's one incident that took place in Toronto. The gentleman called police right away while the person who asked him for money was right in his house. The police reached the house and they advised the person who came to collect money to leave the house. The owner of the house told police this man had asked him for money. The Toronto police said, “Sorry, we can't help. That has to be done by the Attorney General of Canada.” So they are not dealing with terrorism issues.

They are desperately without laws in this country. The police forces are desperately without laws. These terrorists know exactly what the loose points are so they act accordingly. They go right up to the point where the law cannot be held against them. So this has to be changed. That is what we are asking you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you.

We'll go to Madame Folco.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, gentlemen, for coming.

Actually, I would like to follow up on the question and comment of my colleague Lois Brown.

Many of the questions you've had so far have dealt with what's happening in Sri Lanka, and of course that is extremely important. But I'd like to talk about what is happening right here in Canada. I've heard from several of you, and of course I'd heard about this before, and I'd like to hear from you very specifically what you see as strong federal government intervention in terms of the threats, both physical and verbal, that the community is receiving throughout Canada.

You're not necessarily the only group that is being affected by this. What we have seen as an unfortunate consequence of immigration—and I say “unfortunate” because I've been working in immigration for years—is the fact that in certain groups what we see is an offshoot of the immigrant group that is very concerned about what is going on in the home country, to the detriment of what is going on here in Canada. It spends all its energy working on what is going on in their country of origin. So there's a fine line for us that has to be made for us Canadians, and particularly for members of government, between respecting under our multiculturalism the religion, the origins, and the language of people who have arrived—which of course we want to do—but at the same time making sure that the integration into the Canadian social fabric goes on.

It seems to me that what some groups are doing is crossing that line—and I'm not naming any groups on purpose, and they're minorities, I know, but they're a very strong minority in the Sri Lankan community in Canada. They are spending a lot of time, energy, and money, and very often illegally.

So the question I am asking of you is this. What can we as a government do? And I'd like you to be as concrete as possible in your reply, please. I don't know who I'm addressing the question to. Perhaps Mr. Ratnamalala, first, and perhaps Mr. Nizam would want to add something later on. I have a very short time, so I'll ask you to be very short.

[Hasaka Ratnamalala]

Thank you.

Actually, that is one of the greatest points we have to address right here. The Canadian law has to be re-examined, as Mr. Chandrakumaran said. The flow of communication between the town police and the RCMP has to be more and more, with some kind of actual role taking place between the two, because when there is a terrorist issue they cannot take action. Even last time when there was this flag issue in Toronto, a certain precedence was given to certain organizations to raise a terrorist flag. Certain organizations were not allowed to carry their flags, but certain other organizations were allowed to carry their flags. On that point there was a clear-cut difference in the law in this country.

That actually has to be understood by the politicians, and the politicians have to deal with the Canadian security agencies. Actually, it is better that the politicians deal directly with them, and in cases where our advice is needed at the witness level, we can give that. But that has to be addressed very soon.

[Noor Nizam]

Madam, I'd like to address it very deeply. There are two main issues here.

One, we have to think about the young Canadians, the diaspora of Sri Lankans who were born within the last 23 years. They are Canadians. They have no links, no culture, no traditions, except what they learn from their families.

The other is the cultural network, the mass media network, and the fault of CRTC. You guys know what CRTC is. You guys and I, if we sit in front of a television program--Bell or Rogers or something--we definitely know that we can understand the English programs. If I sit before French, I do not.

But what is happening in the cultural TV programs is so dangerous that I have sometimes phoned the CRTC and CBC and asked. They have given licences for cultural TV, but what the cultural TV is broadcasting is pure terrorism instigation. Indian films, Hindi films, Tamil films are portraying everything that is happening all over the world, especially ATN, Jaya TV, and all this TV that's non-English. You will see that they are promoting violence.

Who is the audience? The young 30% of the Tamil-speaking diaspora. They see violence there. When they are instigated.... Do you want another Khadr to be created within the Tamil Canadian community, to go to Sri Lanka and blast himself up? No. We don't want that. Canadians don't want that. That is the reason.

Again, I'm not referring to the laws that he is talking about, but I'm referring to the CRTC. I have told them many times, so give consideration to that. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Is my time up, Mr. Chair? I'd like to make a proposition.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Yes, it is, because it's a five-minute round.

Mr. Lunney, then Mr. Crête has a question as well. Very quickly.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Nizam, you spoke about how peace is not for us, it's for the next generation. I thought that was an interesting remark. You spoke a little bit about the post-war response, what Canada could do. You spoke about developing infrastructure for the Tamil community, and perhaps a fishing industry and so on.

You spoke about developing a covenant between the peoples, a Tamil, Muslim, Christian, and Sinhalese covenant. I wondered if you would care to expand on that.

[Noor Nizam]

The philosophy behind a covenant is a written pledge and an undertaking in order to come to peace. I will not take you back to history. You know how the Red Cross was created and how the United Nations was created.

If there is understanding among three groups of communities--the Sinhalese, the Tamils, and the left-out Muslims, and if it is signed and documented, then the people who sign as witnesses and underwrite those covenants--especially Canada in the international community--can hold to task the Sri Lankan government or the three communities if they fail to fulfill the covenant.

I think there is already a covenant happening. It has still not been signed. I can't remember, but it is called the APRC. The PTOMS that we had for tsunami development was blasted by--I don't want to mention them--interested groups who didn't want the Muslim community to come in, the division of the understanding of how we can share.

But let's look to the future that has to happen. We have to fulfill the future now if it is to happen. We can bring a covenant. There is a peace covenant happening. I think the 13th amendment has gone a little further. Yesterday or the day before, the Sri Lankan government said it's a nice note to take care of. It's willing to go beyond, and also it is prepared to give what is called a temporary ceasefire.

This is what I am talking about. This is what I'm telling you. We need communication as a tool to bring this to both the Sri Lankan people, to you guys in Canada, and to me as a Sri Lankan Canadian. I'm half this way and half that way.

Anyway, if we can do that, the covenant will definitely work. I'll tell you, sir, if you ask the 33% of the Tamil youngsters here, “Do you want peace, do you want to go to your country?”, they'll jump up and say, “Oh, I'm going to go.... We want to see it. We want to go. We want to jump. We want to see it.” They can't.

If a covenant is in place and the government is put in place to help it.... I think the Sri Lankan government will help, the Tamil leaders will help, the Muslim politicians will help. If the international community can help, we will start peace. That's where we have to start.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much, Mr. Nizam.

Mr. Crête, and then we'll come back. Madame Folco has one more quick question.

Mr. Crête.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Reverend Father Andrew, if the committee prepares a report on what it wishes for Sri Lanka and on what Canada can do, how can the diaspora, the Christian community of Montreal and Canada, help establish a lasting and reasonable peace in that country?

[Father Andrew Thavarajasingam]

I think Canadians should also be able to feel the pulse of the Canadian Tamils. They are Canadians here. They do have their close relatives, particularly Catholics, since they are from coastal areas where the present civil war is affecting their relatives. They want to help them, but they're not in a position to help them. That affects them morally. So this problem has to be dealt with both ways--the Canadians here to be freed from that moral stress as well as the citizens back in Sri Lanka to be freed from the war conditions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you.

Mr. Chandrakumaran.

[Muttukumaru Chandrakumaran]

For the Canadians to get a feeling they're really helping them back home, I would ask the government to set up an account so that each Canadian can contribute to that account and CIDA or something can match that account and do that project there. That means we are taking the Canadians who are giving money here, and there is a feeling they're helping them there. That way, you can create good relations and good feelings, and we can bring harmony among those people.

So the government should set up an account, rather than have money taken by the greedy people. Most of the Tamil Canadians here are giving money without heart, so if a government account is set up and they can contribute some money, that will see harmony even in Canada, because the people can collect money and 100% of the money will go there. It is also good for Canada; at least they will have done some projects, and people will be happy to be Canadian.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Chandrakumaran.

We'll go to Madame Folco just to sum up.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I know committee members intend to present a report at the end of these hearings. I'm not introducing a motion, but I would like to suggest very strongly that the committee's recommendations include at least one recommendation on the subject that I raised, that is to say the position of Canadians of Sri Lankan origin with regard to terrorism and the illegality of the actions of certain ethnic groups in the community.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Madame Folco.

We want to thank our guests for their attendance today and for their testimony. We certainly appreciate it. We're trying to have a balanced approach from different perspectives on the conflict in Sri Lanka and understanding more about the war that's going on there. Certainly we've been given notice by many different groups that there could be major changes and bloodshed even in the next 15 days in Sir Lanka.

Certainly we thank you for coming and giving of your time for our committee's benefit.

We're going to ask you to make your exit--

[Jim Abbott, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Mr. Chair, just very briefly, for the benefit of our researchers, I agree completely with Madame Folco and what she was asking. I think there should be some review of the listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organization. I think successive governments have taken steps in this direction, and I suggest that is one legal avenue that any government, with the enforcement agencies, could be pursuing to assist these gentlemen who are at our desk.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you.

We'll allow you to exit.

I am going to ask the committee to stay. We're going to go in camera. There is some committee business we have to do in camera.

[Proceedings continue in camera]