Toronto’s public meeting on peace in Sri Lanka



(August 14, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Canadians for Peace in Sri Lanka, an open and transparent organization, that believes in democracy and negotiation as the legitimate means to resolve conflicts will hold a public forum Sunday August 17th, 2008 at 3.45 PM at the Scrborough Village Community centre, 3600 Kingston Road, (Markham Road and Kingston Road Intersection) . East.

The key-note speakers on this occasion will be Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole and Mr John Argue, co-coordinator of Amnesty International Canada for Sri Lanka.

Canadians for Peace also works with people irrespective of their race, culture, gender and their backgrounds.

The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and its tragic history almost since the country’s independence has reached the levels of utter anarchy that has affected the entire country with the minority Tamils suffering the worst. Three hundred thousand Tamils have immigrated to Canada alone. This is the largest population among the Tamil communities who live outside of Sri Lanka. Over 80% of the Canadian Tamils live in the Greater Toronto Area.

The Canadians for Peace was founded in Toronto two years ago by some of the leading members of the Tamil community including professionals and artists who oppose the war in Sri Lanka and do not want to take either side of the conflict.

On the other hand it is campaigning for peace by achieving a political solution to the ongoing conflict through a negotiated settlement and restoring real democracy in Sri Lanka.

This is an exceptionally challenging task and such a campaign needs the support of the mainstream media in Canada. It is unfortunate the media that prevails in the Tamil community with exceptions here and there like the weekly the Ankara, support the war and it would not want to give even a little space for the campaign for peace in Sri Lanka. Thus the Tamil community is denied access to learning about democracy and peace.

The Canadians for Peace in Sri Lanka has organized two major public meetings in Toronto, one in October 2007 with Mr. Bob Rea as the speaker and the other in April 2008 with Prof.Kaniska Gunawardena (Professor, University of Toronto) and Ms. Camilla. Orjuela Sweden an academic, specializing on the Sri Lankan conflict addressing the gathering. They provided an in-depth understanding of the conflict and identified directions towards a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka but was forced to quit from the position due to his views on the conflict and his brother Rajan Hoole’s campaign against human rights violations in Sri Lanka by all the political forces including the government and the LTTE.

We have received this information from the Coordinator for Canadians for Peace in Sri Lanka, Ratnam Ganesh who can be contacted on telephone 416 937 5985.
- Sri Lanka Guardian