Canadian Tamils' Conundrum

For two days now Tamil-Canadians - mostly from Toronto - have stood vigil on Parliament Hill protesting the dire straits of their family members back in Sri Lanka. They see a 'genocide' unfolding in their home country. And they feel an urgent, desperate need to do something. And what they feel they can do, at the very least, is convey to the Government of Canada their desperation at the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Hoping that by their strenuous, strident and passionate protests against the Sri Lankan government's determination to finally wipe out all vestiges of the Tamil Tigers and by default no doubt, assaulting in the process, innocent Tamil civilians, Canada's government will take action by launching an official protest. Best of all, demand of Sri Lanka that it cease and desist, and get back to bargaining with the Tigers.

That is not about to happen. In the best of all possible worlds no ethnic group would languish in a bitter battle against statelessness. But this is a world designed otherwise. An initial nuclear cataclysm of cosmic proportions unleashed upon a gaseous void by nature gave us an Earth with a finite geography. Then Nature herself in complete disregard for fairness designed us whimsically.

Two ineluctable forces, immune to reason, conspired to produce a green-and-watery globe. And upon it was placed animals meant to live together in discordant harmony. A geography gifted with immense resources, and human animals in whom were vested emotions and imperatives beyond their puny skills to control. Humans, ingrained with a sense of territorial imperatives, leading to conflict.

"Please try to understand, we're only asking for a ceasefire so innocent people can be saved" earnestly plead the marchers. Hoping to impress upon the good people of Ottawa their helpless despair, the inevitability they yet hope to forestall. The people of Ottawa are not impressed; they have no interest in politics and conflicts that have no bearing on their home-bound journey after a long day's toil.

What is occurring in Ottawa is representative of a worldwide effort to bring attention to the death toll in Sri Lanka. "We have no choice, we have to do this" pleaded one of the Tamil organizers, apologizing for the angry response from Ottawans that the major intersections had been impacted and streets closed off, as a result of the illegal demonstration mounted by thousands of Tamils.

And then there are the other Tamil-Canadians, those for whom the relentless oppression of those working on behalf of the Tamil Tigers diminished their quality of life, as Canadians. By harassing and intimidating them to involuntarily pay monthly stipends in support of the Tamil Tigers, a group recognized as terrorists by the Government of Canada. That group feared and abhorred the Tigers.

It is illegal for Canadians to fund terror groups. The RCMP has been shutting down Canadian fundraising and propaganda arms of the World Tamil Movement of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Western countries are well aware of the fragile state of a hundred thousand Tamil civilians trapped between the besieged Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government forces.

The United Nations has expressed its concern over the fate of those civilian Tamils. The government of Sri Lanka is determined to once and for all rid itself of the presence of this Tamil 'liberation' group, insisting on a homeland for Tamils. In their 27-year reign of terror resulting in thousands of deaths through suicide attacks they've been a deadly scourge.

Sri Lankan Tamils have been historically oppressed in the country, denied full civil rights and prosperity. Theirs is a sad struggle for independence, not at all helped by the violent tactics of the Tamil Tigers. With no other body to represent them other than the terrorist Tigers, Tamils placed their faith in their future as a nation in the wrong place.

For them there will be no justice.