RIGHTS-CANADA: Tamils Transfixed by Refugee Case

By Paul Weinberg Reprint | | Print |

Paul Weinberg

TORONTO, Jan 28 2002 (IPS) - Manickavasagam Suresh is in legal limbo and so, it seems, is much of Canada’s Sri Lankan Tamil community.

Suresh, now 45, was granted refugee status in 1991, detained in 1995, and ordered deported. He was released under strict supervision in 1998 pending appeal. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ordered further review of the case against Suresh, which rested largely on secret evidence that Suresh and his lawyers could not review and rebut. This has raised hopes that his status as a legitimate refugee could be reinstated.

Even so, Suresh could still face expulsion under new counter- terrorism laws that some Tamils fear bode ill for their community here.

Suresh is an alleged fundraiser for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is fighting the Sinhalese-dominated government of Sri Lanka for a separate Tamil homeland. He has denied engaging in any terrorist activity.

From the state’s point of view, Suresh is a suspected member of an organisation that has committed terrorist acts. His deportation originally was ordered on the grounds that he had misrepresented himself by hiding this information from authorities. Even if the legitimacy of his refugee claim is upheld, however, he could be sent back to Sri Lanka as a suspected terrorist and threat to Canada’s national security under harsh new immigration laws enacted last fall, said University of Ottawa law professor Errol Mendes.

From Francis Xavier’s point of view, however, the Canadian government must recognise the right of freedom of expression for refugees from countries governed by oppressive regimes.

Xavier is director of the Canadian Council of Tamils and a lawyer who has documented cases of torture directed against members of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka. His reports, which have been submitted to the United Nations, implicate the South Asian country’s government in the abuses.

“As long as the Prevention of Terrorism Act and emergency regulations (in the Public Security Act) are in place in Sri Lanka, people can be arrested and tortured,” says Xavier. Hence, like many in the Tamil community here, Xavier welcomed news that the Supreme Court had stayed Suresh’s deportation.

Xavier appears confident the Canadian government’s evidence against Suresh is weak and will be thrown out. He is concerned, however, that other legitimate political refugees might still run afoul of Canadian immigration and security officials and be deported.

Troubling to him and others in the community, the Supreme Court’s Jan. 11 ruling stated that under “extraordinary circumstances” Canada is justified in asking refugees to return to countries where torture is practised.

Suresh’s lawyer had sought to prevent this by arguing that European and U.S. court rulings and regulations clearly prohibited deportations where deportees faced torture upon return to their country.

Canadian officials countered that torture was not inevitable, that U.S. authorities had proceeded with deportations after receiving assurances from foreign governments that returnees would not be tortured. Sri Lankan diplomats said they had given Canada such assurances.

Whatever the outcome of Suresh’s case, he and other supporters of Tamil self-determination in Sri Lanka “are being persecuted for their beliefs,” says Xavier. By contrast, he notes, Nelson Mandela was invited in November to address parliament on the right of people to fight for their freedom. Mandela was declared an honorary Canadian citizen for his opposition to apartheid.

Suresh’s lawyer, Barbara Jackman, says the Canadian government has failed to distinguish between legitimate political expression and violent terrorist activity.

The LTTE was not an unlawful organisation in Canada when Suresh was charged, says Jackman. Whether the Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Kurds, or the Palestinians in the territories occupied by Israel, the Canadian government is targeting as terrorists people who are, in fact, “victimised refugee groups involved in an armed conflict in terms of their self-determination rights,” she asserts.

Reflecting on Suresh’s trials leading up to the Supreme Court test, Jackman recalls one judge assuming that “attacks on military targets in the course of a war constituted terrorism. Nobody else in the world, as far I know, thinks that. Just this judge.”

Jackman says Suresh lawfully worked for a community centre that supported the LTTE but it is inadmissible to forbid Canadians from supporting groups engaged in armed struggle that might have killed civilians.

Government officials, however, say Suresh raised funds knowing the money would be used to buy weapons that would be used to kill civilians.

Traditionally, Canada’s ruling Liberal Party has been popular among immigrant communities in this city, where the majority of Canadian Tamils live. Community organisations have contributed to the party’s coffers while also sending money back to Sri Lanka for schools, health clinics, and other services they say have fallen victim to war.

Thus, Tamils have sought to maintain their ties to their families and community in Sri Lanka even as they have invested in their political future in Canada. Now, it seems, both efforts are under threat.

Fundraising by Tamils in Canada for schools, hospitals and other social services back home are unfairly tarred as terrorist fronts by Canadian law enforcement officials whose information on the political situation in Sri Lanka “is completely limited,” says R. Cheran, a former Sri Lankan journalist turned York University sociologist.

At the same time, the National Post, a leading newspaper, and the right-wing opposition Canadian Alliance Party have attacked Finance Minister Paul Martin and another member of the Canadian government for attending Tamil community events.