Suffering from the consequences of ethnic separatism, Sri Lanka has been embarked in ethnic conflict amongst its Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority for decades.
Following British rule in 1815, Tamils from India were shipped to Sri Lanka by the British for slave labor, while the Tamil middle class were educated to rule the colony. After the country’s independence in 1948, the new elite took control vowing to replace the English language with Sinhalese. Armed with new legislation to remove the Tamils from the civil services in 1970 and with 
the rise of “nationalism,” the level of discrimination and anti-Tamil riots had increased both left and right. In response, the Tamil resistance, particularly the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), insisted on an independent state in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The government reacted with torture, disappearances and by using chemical weapons and cluster bombs. Likewise, the Tigers responded by committing their own crimes, implementing methods such as kidnapping and suicide bombing. A cease-fire was reached in 2002, and continued until last year, before the government resumed the fighting. This in effect pressured the Tamil civilians to flee from “welfare camps”, operated by the military. Additionally, foreign aid workers are banned from entering the camps with the exception of the Red Cross, who are “‘witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe.’” The United Nation is also reporting that thousand of civilians are falling victim in the conflict zone, urging the government to end the bloodshed without further delay.
We are also experiencing the civil strife here in Canada, as Tamil Tiger protestors last Friday took the streets to encourage the Canadian and United States governments to assert pressure on the Sri Lankan government in the hopes of reaching a cease-fire and preserving the Tamil minority from execution.
Does Canada, now with the largest Tamil communities outside of Sri Lanka, have the responsibility to help put an end to the conflict?
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/15/sri-lanka-fighting-united-nations
www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=3839
Pilger, John. “Distant voices, desperate lives.” New Statesman 138.4949 (18 May 2009): 16-16.
Van de Voorde, Cécile. “Sri Lankan Terrorism: Assessing and Responding to the Threat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).” Police Practice & Research 6.2 (May 2005): 181-199.
