However, according to Justice Stephen E. Firestone of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice In Canada – who had ruled in favour of the CTC, awarding it $37,000 in damages and imposing $16,000 in costs on Rohan Gunaratna – CTC had not had any links with the LTTE.
In article published by Lakbima News in 2011, Gunaratna was quoted as saying: "The LTTE is operating under the name of the Canadian Tamil Congress, which is the main LTTE front organization in Canada."
In his written reasons, Justice Firestone, inter alia, said “the statements were clearly defamatory, either directly or by innuendo, because they imply CTC is involved in the commission of violent and illegal activity.it is unequivocal and uncontroverted that these statements were, in fact, false and untrue”.
David Poobalapillai, National Spokesperson for CTC, commended the court decision saying “The Court’s decision is a vindication to CTC and its members and supporters. The surest way to attempt to destroy an ethnic group is to make its members afraid to even admit that they are part of that group for fear of being labelled terrorist sympathizers or terrorists themselves,” Poopalapillai continued. “The Sri Lankan government and its sympathizers have labelled all Tamils as terrorists for far too long—this judgment is a victory not only for CTC but for Tamils everywhere.”
Although it is still too early to say whether the Canadian judiciary is absolutely naïve or extremely clear, it is clear that the judgment, overtly and covertly, is pandering to the chauvinistic sentiments of the Eelamist elements in Canada.
It is hard to believe that the Canadian judiciary is unaware of the dubious track record of the Canadian Tamil Congress. Some years ago, the same David Poobalapillai and his CTC colleagues were seen carrying the LTTE flag parading on the streets of Toronto, claiming that the LTTE was the sole representative of Tamils. When Poobalapillai carried the LTTE flag in public, it was a banned organization in Canada under anti-terrorist legislation. However, at that point, Poobalapillai and the CTC enjoyed a great degree of impunity from the Canadian law enforcement system.
Poobalapillai also met Kumaran Pathmanathan in Malaysia just three months after Prabhakaran’s death. By that time, Pathmanathan had positioned himself as the new leader of the LTTE and was running the international operations of the LTTE with the support of Diaspora. Poobalapillai also had close links with Rudrakumaran, the self-styled Prime Minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) and Father Emmanuel, an open supporter of the LTTE, who also worked as an unofficial consultant for the ‘Canadian Tamil Congress’ in the recent past.
A few years ago, in another controversial move, the Canadian Tamil Congress also offered c$ 50,000 to Amnesty International, an international Human Rights watchdog whose reports are often lopsided where the problem of Sri Lanka is concerned. It was widely alleged that the CTC offered money to Amnesty International in a bid to manipulate their work. The return on investment for the bribe offered by the Canadian Tamil Congress was high as the Amnesty International always ensured that the interests of the Canadian Tamil Congress were met.
If Dr. Rohan Ginarathne is mistaken on the Canadian Tamil Congress, the representative body of the Tamil Diaspora in Canada should answer a few simple questions and clarify their position. The questions run as follows;
- Are they ready to call the LTTE a terrorist organization?
- Are they ready to call LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran a terrorist?
- Are they ready to state that they never channeled funds to the LTTE for its armed struggle in Sri Lanka?
- Are they in a position to state with responsibility that they have never used Tiger flag during their demonstrations in Canada?
Maybe the Canadian judicial system is blind that it cannot see the obvious. Be that as it may, the judiciary of Canada has now granted immunity to a proxy of Tamil Tigers while ruling against Rohan Gunarathne with whim the CTC had an axe to grind. To sum it up, Canada has cut off its nose to spite the face!
God bless Canada!
