As the World Tamil Movement (WTM) announced that it would challenge its listing as an outlawed terrorist organization, opinions across Canada came out querying the decision by the Canadian government.
Claiming that the Canadian government is acting more like a police state than a democracy, the WTM announced on June 19 that it will appeal Ottawa's decision to add it to a list of terrorist groups.
"They feel they've been tried, convicted and charged without even knowing they were charged," said one of the WTM's lawyers, Marlys Edwardh.
"This is not the conduct of a democracy where people are entitled to meet a challenge in a courtroom . . . it's much more for them like the actions of a police state."
Edwardh insisted that the Toronto-based non-profit organization never received any invitation to submit evidence from the RCMP, which has aggressively been gathering documents about the WTM's funding practices.
"The process involved is entirely without any rights of the individual or the organization to examine the evidence, challenge the conclusions and to put forward their positions."
Calling the listing ‘hasty’, The Gazette in Montreal said “It's quite possible that the WTM is, as [Public Safety Minister Stockwell] Day said this week, a leading front for the Tamil Tiger insurgents back home in Sri Lanka. But so far the evidence against the group is pretty thin.”
“No WTM member has ever been prosecuted for a crime, let alone convicted. And a major raid on the movement's headquarters last spring has resulted in no charges so far,” the paper noted.
“But until they're confirmed, government suspicions alone should never be enough to shut down a voluntary organization of Canadians,” it said.
“It's one thing to ban a foreign entity as terrorists. But it's entirely another matter to ban an organization started and run by Canadians, and registered as a non-profit organization under Canadian laws, without due process or even as much as a day in court to defend the allegations,” wrote Dushy Gnanapragasam in The Globe and Mail.
“But in this climate of colour-coded fear, due process and basic rights are the furthest thing from the minds of people,” the letter to the paper said.
“The Tamil community is shaken, but it is the general populace who should take notice,” wrote Manjula Selvarajah in the National Post newspaper.
“The Tamil Canadian community looks forward to seeing the Canadian government apply a balanced approach to both parties of this conflict and consider imposing economic and diplomatic sanctions against the government of Sri Lanka for its appalling human rights record. It is time to send a stronger message.”
“It is unclear what the actual effect of this listing will be on the World Tamil Movement and its ability to continue to exist, as never before has a domestic group been criminalized in this manner,” wrote Harini Sivalingam in an opinion in The Star.
“In the meantime, an entire community has been tarnished and painted with the same brush. After the listing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the Canadian government in April 2006, there was significant backlash against members of the Tamil Canadian community who experienced discriminatory treatment at schools, workplaces and in the general public. There is a concern among Tamil Canadians that this listing will have a more profoundly negative impact on the community at large,” she wrote.
“The listing of the WTM is a clear instance that "they have come for the Tamils." Even if one is not a Tamil, we should all speak out and voice our concerns about protecting important,” she wrote.
