Detailing the structural as-pects of the slow genocide Fein accuses Colombo of perpertrating against Tamils, the testimony says: "All pre-vious well-known genocides which have occurred since the end of World War II have been characterized by a massive number of murders in a small defined locality occurring in a short time period and carried out by an actor seeking the total physi-cal extermination of a par-ticular ethnic group. The post-1945 genocide cases often cited are: the Holo-caust, the Kurds in Iraq, the Srebrenica massacre, and Rwanda.

Continued on page 8

In an invited written tes-timony to the hearing on "Recent Developments in Sri Lanka" before the Foreign Relations Sub-committee on Middle East and Asia, at the Dirksen Senate Building Tuesday, Bruce Fein, for-mer U.S. associate dep-uty attorney general, de-tails the recent violence by the Sri Lanka Govern-ment against Tamils ci-vilians under "impenetrable media blackout and eviction of all outside observ-ers...has crossed the line into genocide, which jus-tified a criminal investi-gation under United States laws."

Fein was contacted by Sena-

tor Robert Casey’s office (D. Pa.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcom-mittee on Middle East and South Asia, and was invited to provide written testimony on, “Recent Violence in Sri Lanka” for the official hearing record, Fein said.

Human Rights lawyer, Karen Parker J.D., and a Group of US Tamil Associations also submitted a written testi-mony, and a detailed memo-randum respectively to the Subcommittee hearings. The three live witnesses had been previously selected. Senator Casey’s office also informed Fein that the Em-bassy of Sri Lanka had also been invited to submit a written statement.

US Subcommittee to hear genocide charges against Sri Lanka

Power of ONE 'Power of One Voice, One Story, One Pen, One Com‐munity'  ‘A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.’ ‐ Marga‐ret Mead.   

On Wednesday February 18th, 2009 CanadianHART organized an event that en‐gaged many youth and young professionals.  Despite the snow storm many news faces packed the Canada Kanathasamy Temple hall eager to find out what they could do next.   

 ‘We have had many protests and rallies have been organ‐ized and still continue to happen.  We have made the media listen and have made our voices heard but it sim‐ply could not end here. Continued pg 13

February 2009 Volume 1, Issue 2

ClarionClarionClarion

Inside this issue:

Canadian HART

2

Teen goes on hunger strike

3

Youths pay respects

4

Displaced civil-ians traumatised

7

US to Hear Charges of

Genocide

8

What is wrong with Sri Lanka?

10

Canadian politi-cians respond

11

Journalists in danger

5

Food and health crisis in Vanni

6

Halt the geno-cide Campaign

12

Canadian Voice for Peace and Justice

On Saturday February 7th 2009 a member from the SIEU Labour Union and Ca‐nadianHART presented on the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka to members of the International Socialists or‐ganization.   The event was organized by International Socialist Can‐ada.  A teach‐in also took place at OISE, University of Toronto on February 10th 

drawing out many students who were eager to learn about the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka.    “Just imagine for one sec‐ond what it would be like to be a child who lives in fear of aerial bombardments from their Government. Words cannot express the pain and agony that many civilians especially children who are most affected.”  

 “One children’s home that houses tens of deaf and blind children came under attack by SLAF bombard‐ment.  The blind children began to run into walls in a hurry to safety.”   The speakers shared many testimonials from the ground as many in the audi‐ence listened, took notes and shed tears. 

Jeff Arias Show based in the U.S.    CanadianHART speakers spoke passionately about the ongoing genocide of the Tamils, the uprising of the 

In addition to the broadcast‐ing in Canadian Tamil media CanadianHART has been featured on many Canadian radio shows such as the Wednesday Word of Mouth by CKLN, 88.1 FM and The 

community against the Sri Lankan Government to con‐tinue to educate citizens around the world.  A call out was made to the listeners to express their support and solidarity with the Tamil community. 

Explaining the Crisis in Sri Lanka

Radio Shows

Public Forum on the Humanitarian Crisis in Sri Lanka

was organized by the Dav‐enport Neighbors for Peace which is a neighborhood antiwar and social justice group.  The event was high‐lighted in NOW Magazine as the editors top 3 picks which drew out many mem‐

bers of the community that were eager to learn about the plight of Tamils.  The night ended with great dis‐cussion on the importance of building solidarity to strengthen our voices against oppression.  

CanadianHART and the Ca‐nadian Peace Alliance were guest speakers at a Public Forum on the Humanitarian Crisis in Sri Lanka on Febru‐ary 23, 2009.   The event took place in the Shaw/College Public Library and 

“Just imagine for 

one second what 

it would be like 

to be a child who 

lives in fear of 

aerial 

bombardments 

from their 

Government”

Page 2

CanadianHART in the Community  Over the past couple months CanadianHART has been actively engaged in the mainstream community by participating in several events organized by various organizations.  A man‐date of CanadianHART  is  to educate  the general public on  the humanitarian crisis  in Sri Lanka and this has been an ongoing priority for CanadianHART.   

Halt Genocide Tour– Article Page 13

Power of ONE event

Clarion

Thousands of Tamils marched in Paris on Satur-day March 1st to denounce what they termed the Sri Lankan government's geno-cide of the island's ethnic minority in its bid to wipe out Tamil Tiger rebels. Police put the number of marchers at 2,500 while organisers said some 3,000 participated in the demon-stration.

The marchers shouted slo-gans such "EU impose a truce", and "The Sri Lankan president is a murderer", and "Stop the Tamil geno-cide".

Channel News Asia

Tamils March in Paris to Protest Sri Lankan Offensive

Taking Sri Lanka Protest from Winchester to D.C. Lanka, or PEARL, completed their hunger strike Friday after 10,000 meals had been sacrificed by participants around the world.

Suntharalingam, the young-est member, began eating one meal a day Feb. 14 at the urging of friends and family.

Kerry and the Winchester High School junior discussed the need to end violence in the country, where fighting between the Sinhalese-led government and a Tamil rebel group has escalated in recent weeks, trapping as many as 200,000 civilians in the crossfire.

Suntharalingam told the senator that her goal for the country was "peace and equality for all its citizens," not necessarily an independ-ent country for Tamils, the

goal of the rebels.

Suntharalingam also at-tended a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing on Sri Lanka yester-day as Kerry's guest.

Boston.com

A Winchester teenager who went on a 12-day hunger strike to raise awareness about the plight of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka met with Senator John F. Kerry in his Washington office yesterday to discuss the country's ongoing conflict.

Kerry jokingly offered to share a meal at Burger King with the student, Priya Sun-tharalingam, 17, whose last meal before her fast was a Whopper cheeseburger.

"I admire you enormously for caring and for taking action on what you're think-ing about and for having an impact," Kerry told Sun-tharalingam, who was joined at his office by Tasha Mano-ranjan, 22, of Washington, D.C., who also fasted.

Members of People for Equality and Relief in Sri

“her goal for

the country was

"peace and

equality for all

its citizens,"

Page 3 Volume 1, Issue 2

Priya Suntharalin-gam, 17, went on a 12-day hunger strike to raise awareness about the plight of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka

February 22, 2009 was a very emotional day for the Tamil youth of Toronto. They came together to pay respects to the eight youths who had self-immolated for the rights of their people back home and to honour their patriotism to-wards their nation and people. The eight youths had sacrificed their lives because their broth-ers and sisters back home do not have the same rights as them and that should not be the case. The event started off with a moment of silence and to re-member the great sacrifice of these men. Following that, the Tamil students took to the stage to share their feelings about the situation and the sacrifices to better the plight of the Tamils. Each representative from vari-ous different places such as universities, high schools, and workplaces expressed why they have attended this event and how they feel about the immolation. They had said that

no matter how many obstacles and terror the government throws at the Tamil people, it will not break their will power, their self-determination, and the belief of an independent nation of Tamil Eelam. They also mentioned that the self-immolation of the eight martyrs is like a light for the rest of the Tamils, which will lead us to a brighter future; their ashes are their everlasting fuel for the fight against the humanitarian crisis. It has been emphasized that these men were in fact speak-ing strongly that the future of the Tamil nation is in the hands of the Tamil youth and to cre-ate awareness amongst the international communities. They had not self-immolated because they were depressed, but rather for the love and affection towards their people and for the hope that one day little children may be able to go school without the fear of death and the hope that one day Tamil girls will be able to walk the street without the fear of getting raped.

The martyr that had self- im-molated in front of the UNO offices in Geneva; Muru-gathasan’s body will be arriving to his hometown London, On-tario. There is to be a massive funeral service to be held there and on that same day, with the collaboration of the Toronto Softball Cricket Association and the universities in the GTA are also going to do a memorial service. The organizers of this event are expecting a great show in attendance for this event and expect it to be a very emotive service.

to support the Tamil com-munity in pressing for an end to the killing in Sri Lanka.

"The Rwandan community strongly condemns the kill-ing of innocent civilians in any part of this globe, while the international community shows the same old indiffer-ence, whether it is in Darfur or Sri Lanka," said RCA di-

Toronto's Rwandan com-munity is joining Tamil Ca-nadians in calling for an end to the violence in Sri Lanka.

The conflict has drawn the attention of the Rwandan community due to the geno-cide of as many as one mil-lion Tutsi and moderate Hutu civilians in Darfur. The Rwandese Canadian Asso-ciation (RCA) has pledged

rector John Rukumbura. "We cannot stand idly by and witness the tragedy that is occurring against innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka."

Excerpt from insidetoronto.com

Memorial for eight self-immolated Martyrs

Rwandan community joins Tamils in condemning violence

“These men

were in fact

speaking

strongly that

the future of

the Tamil

nation is in the

hands of the

Tamil youth”

Page 4 Clarion

Youth Delegation at TDSB– see page 12

The arrest of a top Sri Lankan Tamil newspaper editor is a sign of "repression" of media criti-cal of the government, a rights group said Friday.

Nadesapillai Vidyatharan, chief editor of the Sudar Oli and Uthayan newspapers, was detained by police Thursday while attending a funeral.

The police first said he was

abducted and later admitted detaining Vidyatharan in connection with recent sui-cide air attack by the Tamil Tigers in Colombo.

But the New York-based the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the government was only trying to silence critics of its war against Tamil rebels.

"The nature of his arrest and the allegations that he

was somehow involved in an aerial attack on Colombo point to more government repression of critical report-ing," CPJ's Asia Programme Coordinator, Bob Dietz, said.

"Carried out without a war-rant, this arrest was a viola-tion of the rule of law," Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.

Colombo (AFP)

the Ellipse Circle, rallying, chanting and holding plac-ards, banners and pictures, highlighting the scope of the ongoing genocide and de-manding US action. A ban-ner read, “We too hope for change: Change – US policy on Sri Lanka; Hope – end to genocide.” The mega rally was held between 11 am and 5pm, with a parallel rally in front of the State Depart-

Washington, D.C. Feb-ruary 21, 2009 – Tamils Against Genocide held a massive rally in front of the white house on Friday Feb-ruary 20th to protest the genocide of Tamils by the Sri Lanka government, and to draw the attention of President Obama and his administration. Nearly 10,000 Tamil Americans and Tamil Canadians saturated

ment held from 11 am to 1 pm. Ms. Diane Kelley, the Deputy Director for South Asia, met the rally represen-tatives and accepted the petition addressed to the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

From tamilsagainstgeno-cide.org

Sri Lanka 'repressing' media: rights group

Thousands Rally to Urge Obama to Stop Genocide in Sri Lanka

Journalists in the cross hairs of Sri Lanka war van near his battered, bloodstained car. Witnesses later reported that several gunmen on motorcycles had carried out the attack.

Wickrematunge, an uncom-promising journalist known for his hard-hitting articles on corruption and military accountability, had many powerful enemies. But the 52-year-old had survived attacks before. This time, his luck ran out.

Anyone who speaks out against the government is accused of demoralizing the troops, being a traitor or supporting the Tigers, said Lal Wickrematunge, chair-man of the Sunday Leader, sitting at his desk beside a picture of his slain brother. "There's a fear psychosis among the media," he said. "There's self-censorship."

Los Angeles Times

The news editor at Sri Lanka's investigative Sunday Leader newspaper was driv-ing to work in January when she ran into a traffic jam a few hundred yards from the office. Naturally, she investigated. Almost immediately, she saw the body of her boss, friend and editor in chief, Lasantha Wickrematunge, being loaded into a white

“There's a fear

psychosis

among the

media”

Page 5 Volume 1, Issue 2

Banner from rally, tamilsagainstgeno-cide.org

Due to acute malnutri-tion and continued block-ade of food thousands of mothers of newborn ba-bies have gone barren to feed babies in besieged Mullaiththeevu. The sub-stitute of powdered milk is also not available, seri-ously affecting thousands of babies reports Tamil-Net correspondent from Vanni. Pregnant women are at high-est risk of serious complica-tions from infectious diseases under the prevailing condi-tion.

Very high rates of infectious diseases are found among children, including respira-tory diseases and diarrhea, medical sources at Maaththa'lan makeshift hospi-tal said adding that many in-jured civilians have been suf-fering without antibiotics treatment.

Patients with chronic dis-eases are having a hard time. Their deaths, caused by the blockade of medicines by the Government of Sri Lanka, is increasing. Especially, diabe-tes patients are dying with-out medicines and are ex-posed to tragic conditions even with minor injuries. Lack of portable water is a major problem in the 'safety zone'. The new 'safety zone' de-clared by Colombo, limited to 12 km, a small stretch of land along the lagoon and the sea coast, north of Mul-laiththeevu, is nothing but an assembling ground where a population of around 200,000 - 250,000 civilians remaining in Vanni have been herded into, congesting the barren land beyond further accommodation. Civilians were struggling to cope with their camp life inside 10-feet long huts covered by tarpau-

lin sheets and the bunkers where they seek shelter dur-ing the artillery attacks.

Vegetables are not available. Food supplies are allowed in the last few shipments only in small amounts. On Wednes-day, 17 metric ton of flour arrived. The local co-operative society authorities had to limit the supplies to 17,000 families, supplying 1 kg flour, 50 grams of sugar and 50 grams of dhal per family. Families with five or more members were priori-tised. People were struggling in long queues.

Tamilnet.com

Newborn babies bereft of milk, humanitarian situation Worsens in Vanni

Page 6 Clarion

“Pregnant women are at highest risk of serious complications from infectious diseases under the prevailing condition. “

GENEVA (Reuters) - Up to 85,000 civilians trapped in northeastern Sri Lanka could flee the war zone in coming weeks as the army closes in on rebel-held territory, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday.

The Sri Lankan government has allocated 300 acres of land where the UNHCR can receive up to 42,000 people by the end of next week, spokesman William Spindler said, citing the need to dou-

ble the space to accommo-date uprooted people in the region.

"UNHCR has requested the government of Sri Lanka to provide another 300 acres to bring the total potential re-ception capacity to 85,000 persons," Spindler told a news briefing.

Some 36,000 displaced Sri Lankans have already fled to government-controlled areas

of Vavuniya and Jaffna, ac-cording to the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP), which delivered 40 metric tons of food by tugboat to the northern government-designated safe zone in the Vanni area on Thursday.

Reuters.com

Up to 85,000 people to flee Sri Lanka war: UNHCR

* UNHCR says up to 85,000 to flee war zone soon

* WFP delivers first food supplies in six weeks

Thousands of civilians who fled fighting in northern Sri Lanka remain traumatised by their experience and anxious about their future, say aid workers. “All of those who have fled the fighting have seen peo-ple die in front of them,” Annmarie Loof, the head of mission in Sri Lanka for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), told IRIN. “They are also anxious about their own future and of their loved ones, those who have escaped and espe-cially those who still remain trapped,” she said. More than 36,000 Tamil civilians caught up in the fighting between Sri Lankan government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have escaped to government areas since January and are now being assisted in 16 government-established transit sites in and around the northern town of Vavuniya. However, tens of thousands more remain trapped inside a narrow swathe of land in parts of Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu districts, about 300km north of the capital Colombo, known as the Vanni Pocket. “These people have experi-enced continuous heavy shelling and now don’t know what is happening with their relatives who are trapped [in the Vanni Pocket],” the MSF official said.

MSF said many who escaped did so after repeated at-tempts and risked death to reach safety. “Those who managed to flee the Vanni [Pocket] tell how they were constantly on the run from the fighting and heavy shelling coming from both sides. Many have spent days on end hiding in bunkers,” the agency said. MSF said there was fear among those who had fled the fighting that they would be targeted for reprisal at-tacks by the LTTE for dis-obeying orders to stay within conflict areas. MSF and others estimate more than 200,000 people remain trapped in conflict areas, while the government puts the figure at about half that. Lack of information "People arrive here in a state of extreme anxiety and fear. They have been separated from their fami-lies and often have no news about their fate,” Karen Stewart, a MSF mental health officer in Vavuniya, said in a web post on 13 February. “A child spoke about how he was in a bunker with his cousins at the time of an attack. Out of the 10 people seeking refuge, six died,” she said. Risath Bathiyutheen, Minis-ter for Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services, told

IRIN that government offi-cials were registering the newly arrived civilians in Vavuniya, with lists to be available soon. “We are constructing four villages complete with all facilities like health, educa-tion and recreation for the civilians coming out,” Bathi-yutheen said, referring to those areas where people would be housed following their transfer from 16 tem-porary sites. “One of the villages, Kadirgamar, already has about 3,000 persons. We want to move these people out of the transit sites as soon as we can,” he said.

UN preparedness UN agencies said they were prepared to meet the imme-diate needs of more civilians expected to flee the fighting. “UNHCR [the UN Refugee Agency] have stated they are ready, with partners, to assist in meeting the imme-diate needs of up to 150,000 civilians fleeing from the conflict zones into govern-ment-controlled areas,” the UN Office of the Resident Coordinator and Humani-tarian Coordinator in Sri Lanka said in a joint update on 26 February. The World Health Organi-sation (WHO) said further action was needed to pre-vent conditions deteriorat-ing and disease outbreaks among the displaced. Irinnews.org

Displaced Civilians Traumatized

“A child spoke

about how he

was in a bunker

with his cousins

at the time of

an attack. Out

of the 10

people seeking

refuge, six died”

Page 7 Volume 1, Issue 2

A Tamil family in conflict-affected

Tents erected outside the Cheddikulum pri-mary school in Va-vuniya for Tamil IDPs

"By contrast, Sri Lanka’s genocide against Tamils has taken place over a number of years and is more character-ized by widespread, pro-longed displacement and de-struction of the community’s physical and cultural base than murder. For this and also wider geopolitical rea-sons, the destruction of the Sri Lankan Tamils is less well-understood in the world at large as a case of genocide," Fein says in the testimony. Describing the latest violence on Tamils, Fein says "[b]est estimates from neutral per-sons in Sri Lanka place the death toll of innocent Tamil civilians in the predominantly Tamil northeast over the past two months at more than 2,000. The number of injured probably exceeds 10,000. The number of dis-placed persons most likely approximates 350,000. None of these figures, however, can be confirmed at present with direct testimony," Fein says. "The Sinhalese Buddhist GOSL is the reason we are reduced to conjecture. It has imposed a media blackout. It has evicted all NGOs. It has evicted all humanitarian aid workers. It has evicted the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. It has evicted the Interna-tional Committee of the Red Cross. No independent news reporter or neutral witness may observe the conflict between the all Sinhalese “Tamil free” armed forces and security services of Sri

Lanka and the Tamil Tigers. Neither are there outside eyewitnesses to the; nor the indiscriminate violence that rains down daily on innocent Tamil civilians whether in hospitals, temples, churches, schools, or “safe zones” - an Orwellian term to describe the forced concentration of Tamil civilians into a tiny area to increase the efficiency of their physical destruction in whole or in substantial part by the Sinhalese majority." Fein recommends to the Subcommittee to adopt the following measures:

• Seek an international arms embargo on Sri Lanka in the United Na-tions Security Council under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter;

• List Sri Lanka (along with Sudan, Iran, Syria, and Cuba) as a state sponsor of terrorism under United States laws, which would trigger vari-ous sanctions;

• Freeze the United States assets of Gotabhaya Ra-japaksa and Sarath Fon-seka;

• Deny visas to the GOSL leadership, including President Mahinda Raja-paksa;

• Vote against economic aid to the GOSL at the World Bank and IMF;

• Deny Sri Lankan goods favorable tariff treat-ment;

• List Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa,

and Sarath Fonseka as specially designated ter-rorists under Executive Order 13224.

• Support a “One country, two systems” political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

• Withdraw the United State Ambassador from Colombo until the geno-cide and indiscriminate killing of Tamil civilians by the Sinhalese Bud-dhist GOSL ceases.

and concludes, "[f]or dec-ades, the primary horrors in Sri Lanka have been inflicted on Tamil civilians by the GOSL. Like triage, their plight should be addressed first though genocide prose-cutions or otherwise. Bruce Fein is the counsel for U.S. based legal activist group Tamils Against Genocide. Tamilnet.com

US Subcommittee to Hear Genocide Charges cont. from pg 1

Page 8 Clarion

Attorney Bruce Fein

“By contrast, Sri

Lanka’s genocide

against Tamils has

taken place over a

number of years and

is more characterized

by widespread, pro-

longed displacement

and destruction of the

community’s physical

and cultural base than

murder. “

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Conditions in Sri Lanka's overcrowded war zone have rapidly deteriorated as stranded families packed fields filled with human waste, water supplies dwin-dled and a makeshift hospi-tal ran out of essential medi-cines, the top health official in the region said Wednes-day.

Aid groups estimate more than 200,000 people are trapped in a small strip of rebel-held territory along the northeast coast as the government wages an all-out offensive to destroy the

Tamil Tiger rebels and end this country's 25-year-old civil war.

The government, which says only 70,000 remain trapped, has brushed off growing international calls for a cease-fire to allow the civil-ians to flee the 25 square miles (65 square kilometers) that remain under rebel control, saying the war is nearly finished.

Troops were fighting Wednesday on the outskirts of the last town under rebel control, said military spokesman Brig. Udaya

Nanayakkara said. Most of the civilians were reportedly confined to jungles and small villages nearby.

Dr. Thurairaja Varatharajah, the top government health official inside the war zone, said conditions were grow-ing desperate.

The area — which has come under deadly shelling — was badly overcrowded, he said. Tents housing two or three families each were pressed against each other in paddy fields, along the beach and in nearly every empty piece of land.

Official: Sri Lanka war zone conditions worsen

Page 9

Excerpts from Ravi Ness-man’s article for the Associ-ated Press

PTK hospital, legitimate military target - Gotabhaya "No hospital should operate outside the Safety Zone...everything beyond the safety is a legitimate target," Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary, Gotabaya Raja-pakse tells the Skynews, admitting to the culpability of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital. In another inter-view with the BBC, a clearly irate Rajapakse ridicules Lasantha Wickrematunge as an editor of a "tabloid," and queries reporter Chris Morris as to why the media is interested in "one man" when there are thousands of killings and murders."

When asked why the Gov-ernment has warned jour-nalists not to use videos of the humanitarian situation in Vanni, Gotabaya says: " We have to take certain meas-ures to them [reporters] from the country. That had happened previously; that had happened in other countries. It is not a new thing. If you are a threat to the national security, the Government has to take action." "Do you think broadcasting footage from TamilNet is a threat to national security?" the reporter asks.

"Of course. Because that is wrong," Gotabaya replies. In the interview with BBC's Chris Morris, Gotabaya de-rides late Lasantha and says that any dissent or criticism [of the Government] during the time of war is treason." From Tamilnet.com

Gotabhaya Raja-paksa tamilnet.com

Volume 1, Issue 2

By now, many of us know that something is wrong on the island prominently re-ferred to as Sri Lanka. The 25-year-old civil war be-tween the separatist Libera-tion Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka is at the height of its crisis. Keeping the LTTE cornered inside a few hundred square kilometers of jungle, the real war of the Government of Sri Lanka is waged on the Tamil people.

While the entire world is preoccupied with condemn-ing the LTTE as terrorists, the Singhalese-dominated Government of Sri Lanka is busy planning and executing the final stages of a system-atic genocide against the Tamils. In the past month alone, thousands of Tamil civilians have been killed and severely injured with hun-dreds of thousands forced from their homes often di-rectly into zones where mili-tary violence is occurring. Current displacements of people are worse than that seen in Kosovo.

The real measure and extent of the murder of Tamil peo-ple underway is impossible to know. The Government of Sri Lanka, after its official withdrawal from the 2002 Norwegian-led cease-fire in early 2008, has expelled vir-tually all aid agencies, foreign journalists, and international monitors as the first step in conducting an illegal war. Its operations are now unfolding in complete media and diplo-matic blackout. In December, the New York-based Genocide Prevention Project listed Sri Lanka on the top eight red-alert coun-tries experiencing or at risk of genocide. Two months later, genocide is nothing short of obvious with no plans for intervention by the international community, with the exception of mean-ingless suggestions to a cease-fire.

The president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has dis-missed calls by a few willing nations to negotiate peace as an attempt to violate the

sovereignty of the Sri Lankan state. The president of East Timor and Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos-Horta's recent request to assist in any ca-pacity to end the conflict was unwelcome by Rajapaksa, who views the subjugation of people and voice as the solu-tion to six decades of racial tension. With Sri Lanka's independ-ence from the British in 1948, all power of govern-ment was handed over to the majority Singhalese. The newly founded Singhalese government seized the op-portunity to institute its he-gemony over the entire is-land, appealing to mythic Buddhist Mahavamsa ac-counts of an ethnically pure island. This denied the mi-nority Tamils their precolo-nial independent state of Tamil Eelam, constituting the north and east of the island. Continued on page 16

What is Wrong with Sri Lanka? By Jegan Vincent de Paul

Page 10 Clarion

“In December,

the New York-

based Genocide

Prevention

Project listed Sri

Lanka on the top

eight red-alert

countries

experiencing or

at risk of

genocide.”

For info on the up-coming Halt Geno-cide Events, see page 13

Statement from Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Official Opposition, on the situation in Sri Lanka

I am deeply concerned about the continuing vio-lence in Sri Lanka. Countless lives are being lost on a daily basis and more than 250,000 civilians are trapped on the frontline. An immedi-ate ceasefire is needed now more than ever.

I urge both the government of Sri Lanka and the Libera-tion Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to work together to find every possible way to save lives and to further avert a humanitarian disas-ter.

I also call on the interna-tional community to come together to work towards political reconciliation in Sri Lanka and to provide hu-manitarian assistance where it is needed. We have a re-

sponsibility to protect inno-cent civilians whose lives are at risk as a result of this military conflict.

In this regard, I urge United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to send a spe-cial envoy to Sri Lanka to find ways to ensure no fur-ther loss of life and to begin immediate discussions on the political future of the country involving all sectors of Sri Lankan society.

Michael Ignatieff Releases Official Statement

Rob Oliphant, MP Supports Ignatieff

“It is time this Government takes action on this tragic situation. Our Party is taking a lead on this issue and is demanding a real response from this Prime Minister,” said Rob Oliphant.

“The Tamil community is reaching out to us, begging for help. Canada has a

strong reputation for re-sponding to international human rights abuses and we cannot be silent this time. How can the Conservative Government sit back and ignore their fellow Cana-dian’s plea for immediate intervention? Something must be done now,” he con-tinued.

Official Press Release from MP’s Office, from tamilcana-

Don Valley West MP, Rob Oliphant Welcomes Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff’s Statement on the Crisis in Sri Lanka

Rob Oliphant, Member of Parliament for Don Valley West, strongly endorses Liberal Leader, Michael Ig-natieff’s statement on the crisis situation in Sri Lanka.

“It is time this

Government

takes action on

this tragic

situation.”

Volume 1, Issue Clarion

Leader of the Opposi-tion, Michael Ignatieff

Liberal Democrats to British PM: UK must seek UN Resolution

Liberal Democrats have called on the British Gov-ernment to seek a resolu-tion of the United Nations Security Council demanding a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. Ed-ward Davey MP, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary, has written to the British Prime Minister

on Monday, urging him to repeat his Government ef-forts that achieved a similar resolution in the conflict in Gaza. "In addition to pres-sure at the United Nations for a permanent ceasefire and for peace talks, I would urge you to use your influ-ence this week within the

European Union, within the Commonwealth and with President Obama’s new administration, to push for an end to hostili-ties." Tamilnet.com

Three students Shoban, Phava-lan, and Shagare made a delega-tion to the school trustees committee about the many concerns of the Tamil high school student population re-garding the ongoing genocide in Sri Lanka and the reaction of teachers, guidance counselors, and administration to this situa-tion. The meeting took place at the TDSB Headquarters located at 5050 Yonge St. The three stu-dents made a presentation to the school trustees and officers about the situation and also gave them a package containing materials about the genocide. The three main discussions were about: • Organizing of a forum, such as an assembly, for open dis-cussion on the impact on inno-cent civilians in Sri Lanka, and not to endorse any political position • Need for guidance counsel-lors to address issues person-ally faced by students • Allowing free speech by

students, particularly incident involving Kelsey student wear-ing "Save the Tamils" button All the officers and school trustees were particularly in-terested in this situation and all were willing to help out in any way possible. A few of the trustees and officers were shocked and appalled by the actions of some authorities in schools and promised to take action and to hold them ac-countable for their actions. By the end of the meeting the committee passed a motion to bring this discussion to the Student Urban Diversity Strat-egy where the three students will have the opportunity to further explain their case and convince this group to make a recommendation to the com-mittee which can then take action on this issue. Executive Superintendent Gravitis was also determined on talking to the principals of the schools the Tamil students were con-cerned with. This meeting was very success-ful beginning for Tamil students Toronto and the three stu-

dents were congratulated by many of the school trustees and officers for their initiative to take action and their cour-age to make a delegation to the committee. The students will continue to be in contact with the trustee committee and Student Urban Diversity Strat-egy to ensure that action is taken within the TDSB. This meeting was arranged as a result of the 30 hour TDSB protest arranged by the highschool Tamil Stu-dent Associations.

Tamil Students Association Sends Delegation to TDSB

“By the end of

the meeting the

committee

passed a

motion to bring

this discussion

to the Student

Urban Diversity

Strategy”

Page 12 Clarion

TSA delegates

We need to continue this momentum more then ever before and we need to be strategic and effective in our efforts’ said the Canadi‐anHART Activist.   The event engaged many in great dialogue about what we have done, what we could do to be more strate‐gic. One of the most impor‐

tant methods of advocacy has always been letter writ‐ing.  The event emphasized that along with collective action it is important that everyone is also actively engaged in individual action that will bring us the change we are hoping to achieve.    Activist spent the final two hours of the event writing 

letters to the U.N Secretary‐General Ban Ki Moon, Secre‐tary of State Hilary Clinton, all 4 party leaders and their MP.  Activists echoed that ‘Time is of the essence, we can't lose another life. Now is the time to make your voice heard, know the power of unity.’ 

Power of ONE cont.

Halt Genocide Tour

many Canadians on the conflict in Sri Lanka. Many Canadians, simply, were unaware of the genocidal nature of the conflict and felt they have a better understanding of the current situation in Sri Lanka after the education provided by Canadi‐anHART.    Many Canadians were grateful for the youth activists who sacrificed their time in order to highlight the suffering of Tamils in Sri Lanka.  The activists were able to hold teach‐ins, conduct meetings with local politicians and inform members of the public through leafleting and public forums.     Teach‐ins were very effective and received positive re‐sponses from attendees, again reiterating the importance and critical role such an educational initiative has on the masses. CanadianHART also had the 

opportunity to connect with some key organizations throughout the tour such as the Human Rights office and Ontario Public Interest Re‐search Group (OPIRG). These organizations were very im‐pressed at the work Canadian‐HART was doing and are look‐ing into working with the or‐ganization in future projects and initiatives.  The tour helped clear many misconceptions, myths and misinterpretations of Tamils in Sri Lanka and Canada that Ca‐nadians had.  Through our workshops, we were able to get hundreds of volunteers, Tamil and non‐Tamils, to work with CanadianHART to bring about Peace with Justice for Tamils in Sri Lanka.   

Activists from the Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for Relief of Tamils (CanadianHART) took an innovative path to address‐ing the silent genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka and human rights issues facing the Tamils.    Six youth activists from the Greater Toronto Area were a part of a tour through Western Ontario that brought aware‐ness about the catastrophic and intolerable humanitarian situation in the Vanni region of Northern Sri Lanka.  The Halt Genocide campaign was en‐dorsed by the Canadian Peace Alliance (CPA) and the Cana‐dian Federation of Students (CFS).    The Halt Genocide Tour com‐menced on February 9th, 2009 and took the activists across four cities:  Guelph, Waterloo, London and Windsor.   The tour was an eye opener for 

“Many Canadians 

were grateful for 

the youth 

activists who 

sacrificed their 

time in order to 

highlight the 

suffering of 

Tamils in Sri 

Lanka.  “

Page 13 Volume 1, Issue 2

Students attend Halt Genocide Workshop

Stop Genocide Tour

Activists from the Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for Relief of Tamils (CanadianHART) will commence on the second leg of the Halt Genocide Tour. This campaign, is supported by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and the Cana-dian Peace Alliance (CPA), is aimed at creating awareness and education amongst the members of the public, politi-cians, media and non-governmental organizations on the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. Activists look for the same success that they had during the first leg of the tour in: Guelph, Waterloo, London and Windsor. The second leg of the tour will take the activists across Eastern Ontario, Os-hawa (March 9), Peterborough (March 10), Kingston (March

11), Ottawa (March 12), and Cornwall (March 13). The tour will commence on March 9, 2009.

Mr. Sahabthan Jesusthasan, a participant of the tour and the coordinator for Canadian-HART’s Activist Network, said that “everyday Tamils are being killed in a systematic manner by the Sri Lankan Government. To date, over 2, 000 Tamil civilians have been slaughtered by the Sri Lankan state, includ-ing 700 children. People are starving to death; there aren’t medicines to treat people who are sick and wounded. It is vital and important that Cana-dians know that Genocide is occurring in the 21st century. We feel that creating aware-ness and educating fellow Ca-nadians will definitely bring an enormous peace movement

capable of stopping the Geno-cide in Sri Lanka.” Mr. Jesusthasan further said, “it is the responsibility of all Cana-dians to ensure that genocide is stopped and further bloodshed is prevented.”

The tour team comprised of seven youths from the Greater Toronto Area will look to have the same success of the first leg of the tour. They will hold teach-ins, meet local politicians, and educate the public about the Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The team hopes to build a peace movement who would highlight the human suffering in Sri Lanka and to address the immediate con-cerns and issues facing the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The Women’s Rights group will be marching in solidarity with the Migrant and Womyn of Colour contingent.

On Sunday March 8, Canadian HART will continue working with the Migrant Womyn’s coordinating body and provide workshops on War and Occu-pation as a part of the work-shoping event at Ryerson 350 Victoria St, KHS 251.

March 7, 2009– Canadian HART will officially launch its women’s rights campaign dur-ing the International Women’s Day Events on March 7th and 8th.

Members from Canadian HART will participate in the annual International Women’s Day march, which starts at St George station at 1pm and makes its way to Ryerson.

Canadian HART recognizes the specific effects the recent state violence has on Tamil women and is committed to raising awareness about these issues.

Please read our upcoming March edition for more infor-mation on this new campaign.

Activists Prepare for Second Leg of Halt Genocide Tour

Canadian HART Launches Women’s Rights Campaign

“It is the

responsibility of

all Canadians

to ensure that

genocide is

stopped and

further

bloodshed is

prevented.”

Page 14 Clarion

Upcoming Canadian HART Events

Page 15 Volume 1, Issue 2

Call Out for Art Donations

Calling all artists Canadian HART will be holding an Art Auc-tion this May 2009 to raise funds to support the organization's humanitarian efforts. If you are interested in donating an art piece please contact Shaminy Ratneswaran at 647-505-6469. Further details about the auction will be released in March's edition of the Clarion.

Art pieces by Shaminy Ratneswaran

CANADIANHART

25 Crouse Rd., #6027 Scarborough, Ontario

M1R 5P8

Phone: 416-838-9637 Fax: 416– 352– 5726

Enail: info@canadianhart.org

Starting with the Citizenship Act of 1948 and the Sinhala Only Act of 1956—which denied citizenship to over one million Tamils and man-dated Singhalese as the only official language of Sri Lanka respectively—Tamils were constitutionally discrimi-nated against culminating in the 1983 state-sponsored Anti-Tamil Pogrom where over 3,000 Tamils were murdered and thousands of Tamil-owned businesses and houses destroyed.

Within this context, Sri Lanka saw the rise of nu-merous Tamil revolutionary groups forming the LTTE as the defacto organization fighting to reclaim Tamil Eelam's sovereignty.

Today, discrimination of Tamils and full-scale de-struction of their civic struc-tures is the domain and pri-mary occupation of the Sri Lanka Security Forces.

Under the U.S. Genocide Accountability Act of 2007, former U.S. Deputy Associ-ate Attorney General Bruce Fein—representing Tamils Against Genocide—recently filed a 12-count genocide indictment against Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka's Army Commander Sarath Fonseka—one a U.S. citizen and the other a green-card holder. The in-dictment report chronicles 3,750 extrajudicial killings, approximately 30,000 Tamils suffering serious

bodily injury, and more than 1.3 million displacements since the time both mem-bers assumed their positions in the Government of Sri Lanka in December 2005.

Sri Lanka is a failed state by any account. No persons of the Sri Lanka Security Forces or any other branch of the Government of Sri Lanka have ever been prosecuted or punished for crimes against Tamils. The International Federation for Journalists has listed Sri Lanka as the second most dangerous place for journal-ists after Iraq. Freedom of speech—the cornerstone of democracy—is completely eroded and only anti-Tamil or anti-LTTE demonstra-tions occur without inci-dence.

Recent electoral victories of the Rajapaksa govern-ment—during the country's worst offensive against the Tamil people—confirms that Sri Lanka's disdain of Tamils is not limited to the ideology of state, but is the sentiment held by the ma-jority of citizens. The Sin-ghalese state is paradigmatic of the ultraconservative practice of building solidar-ity and nationalism through a shared and systematic abhorrence of a minority.

Right now, with increasing impunity, the Sri Lankan military continues its indis-criminate bombings of civil-ians who are outside its designated "safety zone"—a

sham of a demarcation within which thousands of Tamils are further killed, starved, degraded, and an-tagonized with no freedom of movement or proper medical treatment.

What's worst, the Govern-ment of Sri Lanka recently announced the use of "welfare villages"—its brand of concentration camps—within which internally dis-placed Tamils must remain for a minimum of three years supposedly for reha-bilitation purposes. Testimonies from these barbed-wire camps report crimes as disturbing as forced abortions for Tamil women.

In such a climate, the imme-diate safety and the long-term livelihood of the ex-hausted Tamil people can only be secured by the in-ternational community. Any realistic policy toward the conflict needs to recognize violations by both parties and must not be relegated to the rhetoric of terrorism and counterterrorism. En-suring the coexistence of Tamil Eelam and Sri Lanka on the island could be a successful model for post–war-on-terror resolutions of global conflict.

From the ‘What Matters’ col-umn of the MIT Alum Maga-zine

What is Wrong with Sri Lanka– cont from page 10

“Right now,

with increasing

impunity, the

Sri Lankan

military

continues its

indiscriminate

bombings of

civilians who

are outside its

designated

"safety zone"—

a sham of a

demarcation

within which

thousands of

Tamils are

further killed,

starved,

degraded, and

antagonized

with no

freedom of

movement or

proper medical

treatment.”

Volume 1, Issue 2 Clarion