SAVE & PROTECT OUR CHILDREN FROM POLITICALLY MOTIVATED ALLEGED TAMIL “GENOCIDE” MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN BY DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARDS IN TORONTO, YORK, PEEL IN ONTARIO, CANADA.

We are very disappointed and deeply concerned about your recent poorly researched, partisan tweet on the “End of Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka”. 

Your false narrative alienates and impacts the large Sri Lankan community and students in Toronto and elsewhere. While it will lead to bullying, discrimination, violent attacks and harassment, it will also result in psychological trauma, depression, anxiety and fear of students attending school. 

We must point out that the alleged Tamil “Genocide”, is not recognized by Canada, any other state or by the United Nations as an official genocide. 

Please see the Canadian government’s official statement: Statement by the Prime Minister on the 11th anniversary of the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

This implies that the Tamil “Genocide” is incorrect and carries no legal and ethical ground for the proposed Bill 104 and any other subsequent statements or proclamations. 

We petition that these tweets and statements as concerned parents, to make you aware that such messages lead to the discrimination of Canadian Sri Lankan students in Ontario schools:

1. There is no reasonable and logical necessity for the school board to issue such a statement on a very sensitive subject. This could harm the peaceful environment of the schools and inclusivity among the students of different ethnicities?
2. What is the moral and legitimate right you have to issue such a statement on an unproven claim of “Genocide” that had taken place in Sri Lanka?
3. Any international issues in this nature should be referred to the Global Affairs Canada to avoid any potential international conflict. 

Our children are Canadian citizens and should not be subjected to political divisions of another country. The Ontario Education Act is meant to promote anti-discrimination, anti-bullying, anti-racism, inclusion, care and safety in classrooms. This wrong narrative establishes just the opposite, creating seeds for bullying, intimidation, racism, and hatred among the students of Sri Lankan ethnic backgrounds. We fear for the safety of our children attending schools that promote such behaviour. We find this to be a violation of human rights. We trust that you will take action against such irresponsible acts to prevent them from happening in the future. 

We also would like to educate the school boards about private members Bill 104, which was never approved and is currently awaiting for deputation at the standing committee level. The Bill 104 sparked uproar and public outcry among the Canadian Sri Lankan community. It is truly tragic to see educational institutions being made scapegoats into unwittingly promoting the political agendas of a few.

We fail to see where TDSB, YRDSB and PeelSB fit into the politically driven agenda. School boards are educational institutions and represent a multicultural student population. They have been entrusted with promoting and upholding inclusivity and acceptance while discouraging discrimination, bullying and harassment. By promoting and upholding politically driven agendas and providing misinformation to parents and students, TDSB, YRDSB and Peel SB violate its policies put in place for safer schools, equity and inclusion.

We demand corrective action, an apology, tweet to be deleted and updated with a tweet from the three respective boards remembering all the civilians that perished in the 26-year conflict. 

If this error is not addressed, we will take further collective and legal actions that are necessary. 

Brief Background to the Conflict: 

May 18th, 2009 marked the end of the 26-year conflict in Sri Lanka between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE (also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a designated terrorist organization by Canada, USA and 32 other countries). During the last stages of the conflict, there were nearly 300,000 civilians, that were kept as a human shield by the LTTE. This lead to the Sri Lankan armed forces to rescue them from harm’s way. Both civilians and over 12,000 LTTE carders who surrendered to the Government forces were given food, shelter and skills training.

LTTE’s main cause was to establish a separate state in Sri Lanka by using violent and terrorist means such as conscription of child soldiers, killing innocent civilians the use of suicide bombings, elimination of political leaders including moderate Tamil politicians, sabotaging the Sri Lankan economy and carrying out massacres in villages and religious sites. 

Claiming to fight for the liberation of Tamil people, the LTTE ruthlessly murdered their own who opposed or condoned their ideals. The so-called liberation attempt quickly turned in to a scheme of money laundering and extortion, thus becoming a very profitable “business” ( https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tamil-tigers-extorting-money-from-canadian-families-report-1.612015 ; https://www.hrw.org/report/2006/03/14/funding-final-war/ltte-intimidation-and-extortion-tamil-diaspora 

To this day, many Tamil Canadians are afraid to speak out against the former LTTE. They are forced to support them as a result of an ongoing fear instilled upon the community. 

With the end of LTTE, TGTE (Trans National Government of Tamil Eelam in Exile) was formed under the leadership of the former international legal advisor to the LTTE. They began an attempt to rewrite the Sri Lankan history, dismiss LTTE’s terrorist acts, and portray the conflict as a one-sided-genocide, so they can achieve their separatists’ agenda by misinforming the international community and institutions. 

Their primary objective is being;

• Corrupting the minds of students in schools and at post-secondary institutions
• Creating divisions within the Sri Lankan community
  Continuous call to sabotage the Sri Lankan economy by boycotting their products
• Usage of misinformation to establish a separate state which was the vision of the banned LTTE. 

We request you to take corrective actions regarding your statements and tweets to enhance the inclusivity in your respective school boards and make it welcoming to all Canadian Sri Lankan students. 

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