Foreign Affairs Committee on March 23rd, 2009

[Yoga Arulnamby]

Our association is not limited to any race. It is open to all. Mostly Tamils are there. In our programs, they both attend career counselling. We invite both communities, whether it's for counselling or for programs. All the communities come, even Muslims. Our association is a majority of Tamils, and we don't have any limitations on Sinhalese.

[Jean Dorion, Bloc, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

I see. So then, the vast majority of your members are Tamils.

[Yoga Arulnamby]

It's around 90 persons.

[Jean Dorion, Bloc, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

You stated that Buddhism was proclaimed the country's official religion in 1972. Is that still the case today under Sri Lanka's Constitution?

[Raj Thavaratnasingham, Executive Committee Member, Association of Sri Lankan Graduates of Canada (ASGC)]

Yes, it is. Section 9 of the constitution of Sri Lanka explicitly states exactly what the president just read. It's the state's responsibility to protect Buddha Sasana. That's very clearly defined, even now, in the constitution.

I think that's been one of the problems that's not been highlighted. In 1957, 1965, and 1972, when the peace process was going through, every time the politicians realized they had made a mistake and tried to come to a negotiated settlement with the Tamil parties, the opposition party, together with the Buddhist priests, immediately went on a protest, and they had to abrogate the pact. The Prime Minister, Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, who brought the Sinhala only act in 1956, actually signed the pact with the Tamil leader at that time, Chelvanayakam. However, when the Buddhist priests came marching up to his house, he actually brought the pact outside and tore it up in front of them. And that was the very first time, in 1957, that the peace process broke down immediately. Certainly, even now, the state actually has to protect the Buddha Sasana first. Of course, there are equal rights given to everybody else, but once you put the onus on the state to protect Buddhism, everybody else takes second place.

In this process, even during this difficult time in February, there was a bill that came to Parliament called the anti-conversion bill. Knowingly or unknowingly, if you try to convert somebody else to another religion--it's mainly against the missionaries who are working in the south--you're going to be fined seven years or $50,000 Sri Lankan rupees. I think it was raised in the Canadian Parliament. I think the high commissioner in Sri Lanka heard that, and somehow it's now been shelved in Sri Lanka. It's gone through three readings already.

Yes, that's one of the problems.

[Yoga Arulnamby]

In addition to what Raj said, recent reports tell us how they're spreading Buddhism. They're breaking Hindu temples and putting up Buddhist statues. Even the young Shins in the captured area are breaking Hindu statues and installing their Buddhist statues. It's like all the violence. These are recent reports. Even temples are being broken, and they are putting up Buddhist statues.

[Jean Dorion, Bloc, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

Ms. Johnson, how do the Tamil Tigers feel about the Red Cross? Do they cooperate with your organization or are you having problems getting much-needed aid to the civilian population?

We know more or less what the government's position is, but where does the other side stand?

[Susan Johnson]

I think the International Red Cross and the Sri Lanka Red Cross and all the movement partners are in a unique position in Sri Lanka to access the civilian population affected by this conflict. The International Committee has been working in the area of the northern part of Sri Lanka since 1989. The Sri Lanka Red Cross has a national presence in the country, and there have been tremendous efforts by the movement to reach all the civilian populations and all the vulnerable people.

It's certainly one of the tenets of the International Red Cross movement that we attend to people's needs, regardless of any affiliation or identification whatsoever. It's certainly a tenet of the Red Cross that if people present themselves with needs, those needs should be met by the humanitarian actors.

Our experience in Sri Lanka is like that elsewhere. We have good acceptance by the population. The International Committee maintains dialogue with, obviously, the Sri Lankan government as well as with the LTTE. The International Committee is able to visit people held by both parties in the conflict. There's strong confidence and trust, I would say, that is important in terms of access both to detainees and to the civilian population, under normal circumstances. Recently, of course, this has become more difficult because of the nature of the conflict.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Madam Johnson.

Thank you, Monsieur Dorion.

We'll go to Mr. Obhrai.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Thank you very much.

And thank you to both of you for coming.

The way we see it, there are two immediate crises taking place right now. One is the humanitarian crisis that is due to the civilian war, which Canada is very much concerned about, and the question is--through the Red Cross or whatever--how quickly aid is getting through there. Canada has called for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian access. So this is very important at the current time with the conflict going on. That is the immediate concern.

I am going to say to the Red Cross that they are doing a good job. To the Tamil community out here, their concern should not be the political solution at this time, but to make sure that medicine and everything is quickly getting to the people who are suffering from this. That's the key element right now.

I don't have a question. I know the Red Cross is saying they need more money--of course, we always need more money--but I think in cooperation with our allies, we will ensure that you have access, that the World Food Programme has access, and you are cooperating with that. So I want to take this opportunity to congratulate your organization and everybody in it for doing such a marvellous job in this thing.

The second issue--and I want to ask you folks here about it--is that there is no question there needs to be a political solution. Let's forget the past; you've indicated the history. The history there is littered with errors on the part of many, by everybody. Speak about now, at this time here. There is no question that the LTTE has a history as a terrorist organization because of the manner in which it tried to bring about a new state and a voice of the Tamils. We disagree on that because of the methods they used--suicide bombings, killing civilians, and this kind of thing.

The question I have to the Tamil community here, which you rightly pointed out, is how are you going to put pressure for a political solution on the Government of Sri Lanka and the Tamils to come to the table and talk? I think by now the LTTE itself may not have enough capital left to represent the Tamil community. There is an opportunity here for a new breed of leaders coming from the Tamil community to say to the Sri Lankan government, now is the time to come to a peaceful settlement. They would not carry the baggage of the past that the LTTE and others have carried. You are the student association in this thing, the future. I want to see if the Tamil community here are debating among themselves to seize this opportunity and say, we are coming up with a new solution here in this thing. Forget the baggage you pointed out. I want to hear from you whether the Tamil community here has put forward how they would resolve this thing.

You have just stated here that it must be acceptable to Tamils. Look, there are two parties here, the Sri Lankan government and the Sinhalese, along with the Muslims and everybody else. An opportunity has presented itself, and I want to know whether you guys have actually grabbed that opportunity and are thinking along those lines.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Mr. Arulnamby.

[Yoga Arulnamby]

Thank you, Mr. Obhrai.

You see, at present even Tamils cannot talk to the Sri Lankan government. Even the international community cannot talk to the Sir Lankan government, because they stopped everything. There is no negotiation so far for any community, even the international community. That's why we have come to Canada to appeal to you to ask the government to first stop the fighting, and then we'll go for the negotiation. That's what we want to ask. The Tamil community...whatever they say, they are not going to ask us.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

No, you lost the argument of what I'm trying to say. What I'm trying to ask you, as young Tamils who have come forward on this thing, is this. Is there a debate among your own community on how to resolve this issue politically? At this time, yes, the Sri Lankan government may not be coming to the table, but that's fine, we will apply pressure.

I'm not interested in the LTTE or what it stood for in the past, or what it is and what it will bring in terms of its baggage out there. I am interested in the Tamil community here. Bob previously went out there and presented what Canada wanted. But is there a debate among yourselves that now, at this given time, there is an opportunity for us, considering that the past baggage is gone, which is the LTTE, and has your organization within your community come up with something? What have they come up with?

I know you have written here, the addendum and all these things, that is to currently stop--

[Yoga Arulnamby]

That's very true. We were debating among ourselves very recently. There is a professor called Professor Sornarajah who is voting for the ISGA, the full package they actually worked out with the Tamil's support. It's called confederation standards. It's a small package for the Tamil. LTTE first asked for a separate country, then they went to a separate state, and so on. Personally, among ourselves, a big debate is going on. We wanted to go further. They don't want the provincial standard or the federal system. They wanted to go for the ISGA, that is, the present interim self-governing authority.

[Raj Thavaratnasingham]

Perhaps I may add a little more to that. There are two parties to the conflict. Whether we like it or not, we always have the side that is the LTTE and we have the Sri Lankan government. If you look at the peace process, every time the process happens, it's the Government of Sri Lanka that has abrogated the pact. Since 1983, every other day both parties have blamed each other for abrogating the pact or not sticking to whatever they came up with.

This is the time. Right now, it looks as if Sri Lanka is sitting right here and it's crushing the LTTE--at least, that's what we see. So this is the time for Sri Lanka to come and say, “Here is what we are going to offer. We're going to offer something like Canada has.” Then it's easy for us to take that matter and start a discussion, rather than our just discussing an incident that happened in the past. We all agree on that, but nothing is going to be resolved as long as the Buddhist priests are opposed to it; we all agree on something, but the Sri Lankan government doesn't take it too. The policy document that's quoted there--Policy Studies number 40, done by the East-West Center, which was already mentioned in Yoga's talk—is an interesting one. I can say this is good, this is good, this is good, but nothing is going to happen unless and until the Sri Lankan government comes forward and says, “Here is a proposal that we are willing to give to the Tamils.” It's easy for us to go back to the community and say, “That looks great. It looks something like Canada has or like some other country has. That's a beautiful one. Let's take it forward. It will be easy.”

We can come up with a solution, no problem, but at the end of the day, unless and until the Sri Lankan government agrees on that, it's not going to resolve the problem.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you. Maybe we'll be able to touch on that with another question.

Mr. Dewar.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Thank you to our guests, and thank you, Chair.

I want to go to you, Ms. Johnson, on the Red Cross. Just to be clear, the ask at this point...$19 million is outstanding. Is that what you're saying? Is that accurate? How much would you think Canada should contribute?

[Susan Johnson]

Canada, traditionally, is one of the top supporters of the international Red Cross movement, certainly in the top 10 globally. Given the size of the overall appeal, which at this point, before we even scale up, is $27 million, I think it would be appropriate for Canada to be thinking of making a contribution of something like 10% to 15% of that total. That would be within the norm of Canada's behaviour internationally.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Do you mean 10% to 15% of that $27 million outstanding or of the $19 million outstanding?

[Susan Johnson]

For instance, it would be welcomed if at this point Canada would be in a position to double its assistance to the international committee for Sri Lanka.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

In terms of getting the aid there, which is obviously difficult, on the humanitarian corridors that you were referencing, are they in place now? I guess day by day this changes, but particularly in the northeast, are those corridors holding? Are you able to get the aid to the people who need it?

[Susan Johnson]

In terms of the work of the Red Cross, I think it's important to signal or perhaps re-characterize what I was trying to describe earlier. The International Committee and the international movement have pre-positioned in the country considerable relief supplies and have a capacity to deliver medical assistance, medical supplies, to the makeshift clinic that is in this community. As well, we are involved in evacuating people out of that area and supporting the internally displaced peoples camps, as well as the civilian populations that are not in any camps whatsoever.

Yes, we have access to the populations in much of the country. No, we don't have enough access into the area affected by the conflict. No, we are not able to deliver enough assistance because of the constraints of the situation. So when you ask us to be clear, we're looking for more funds for humanitarian action.

We're also looking for the Government of Canada to make it clear to the Sri Lankan government that there is an expectation that the basic tenets of international humanitarian law will be respected, which is to say, civilians should have access to humanitarian assistance. Those in a position to deliver humanitarian assistance should have safe access to those civilians. That is not, in fact, the situation we face today.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Thank you. That is very clear. The committee is welcome to advance that to the government.

I turn to my other guests. We were hearing--and I think Mr. Rae touched on this--that the government approach seemed to be to isolate it further and further. In fact the northeast area--and the little strip of land--they believed they were going to be able to completely crush. This has been clear in what I've been hearing and reading. They are trying to wipe out the rebels entirely.

Senator Kerry came out today and said that if the Sri Lankan government doesn't change, then its reputation in the global community will be tarnished. These are very serious points. I would like to know if it is the belief of the witnesses that we're seeing here an attempt to completely wipe out any resistance at all to the government.

[Yoga Arulnamby]

Most certainly, that's what they think they're doing. It's like having a big festering wound on your leg and you're running a very high temperature, and they're trying to pump in medicine to get the fever down. So they may be able to crush that section, the area the LTTE is in right now, but I think until you treat the wound on the leg, it's not going to go away. In fact, it may come up with a different name. Right now LTTE is banned, so let's say it comes up as ABCD. Then ABCD is going to start, because this is a problem that started due to violence on the Sri Lankan government's side, and of course nowadays violence is met by violence. That's how LTTE came into being.

I am somebody who has lived in this beautiful country for the last 21 years. When I was in the refugee camp in 1983, I was working for an American oil company, and after 14 days they airlifted me, they flew me to Singapore to work for one month. When I was in that camp, from July 25, 1983, to about August 6 or 7, there was not a single day when I thought that maybe I should become an LTTE myself, that maybe I should become a Tiger. At that time it was not very violent; they were just fighting--of course, with guns.

This is what's been difficult for us, the fact that there have been so many instances of violence against us, and it was to resist this that the LTTE started. Sometimes I have said to myself that maybe there is a small Tiger in my heart--I'm talking as a person here.

So that's the problem there. They may be able to eliminate that particular section, but the problem is still going to be there in a different form.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I'd like to ask a yes or no question, because I think my time is almost over.