By Rathna Kulathunga

Toronto – May 25, 2021. Bill 104: Tamil Genocide Education Week Act was passed in Ontario without fact checking and amid a huge line-up of deputation requests to the Clerk of the committee by thousands of concerned Sri Lankans of Canadian Origin. This Bill was released to the 3rd reading without modification on the 5th of April and passed without debate from the Ontario legislature on the 6th of May in an unprecedented move by the Ontario Conservatives purely intended to pacify electoral votes for the upcoming election.

The 2nd para of the new Law that praises Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as freedom fighters and GoSL as perpetrators, states:

Genocide is the deliberate and organized killing of a group or groups of people, with the intention of destroying their identity as an ethnic, cultural or religious group. Acts of genocide against the Tamils started in 1948 after Sri Lanka gained its independence and were perpetrated through Sinhala-Buddhist centric government policies, pogroms, land grabs and ethnic cleansing. 

The bill does not contain any text that the GoSL have a right to defend its citizens just as much Canadian forces would defend Canadians in the sight of brutal terrorists. Many United nations reports highlight LTTE Tamil Terrorists’ use of suicide squads and child soldiers to bring terror to all parts of Sri Lanka. 

Buddhist monks have been a constant target of the LTTE. One such instance was the Aranthalawa massacre of 33 Buddhist monks, most of them young novice monks, and four civilians by cadres of LTTE Tamil Tigers on June 2, 1987, close to the village of Aranthalawa, in the Ampara District of Eastern Sri Lanka. In recent news Buddhist monks were also the target of pro-ltte elements. 

The inference of Buddhists to be behind violence, is against the 5 Precepts of Buddhism to help people behave in a moral and ethical way.

My child learns about how Buddhists caused violence and then goes to Dhamma school to learn five precepts” claimed one parent who wished to remained anonymous.Since the scope of the Bill is Education, which is a provincial jurisdiction, all Ontario schools are now in scope to receive materials in-line of this hate speech and radicalization.

Buddhism has one of the largest following in the world with around 535 million people with China having the largest following with around 244.1 million, while Cambodia has the largest per country following of around 96.9% of population. Sri Lanka has a Buddhist population of around 70.2%.

There are political and court avenues to repeal the bill that is causing much embarrassment to those who supported it openly. An MPP can present a motion to repeal the Bill which then have to be passed from the house. With the current money power of pro-LTTE diaspora, it is unlikely that the politicians will turn an eye on the facts, as they are focused on re-election.

The other method is to bring the fight to court and let justice prevail. Spokesman for Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition(SLCAC) stated that a legal fund to collect funds to fight this Bill in court was launched as the armed conflict was never accepted by the Federal government or the United Nations along with a list of impingements in provincial and federal acts by Bill 104. He stated the trajectory of the case ending up at Supreme court raises more pressure on fundraising. Currently SLCAC is seeking support from businesses and people from around the world to donate to the GoFundMe campaign to help fight the Bill 104 in court.

More information on Bill 104 can be found at:
www.OntarioBill104.ca GoFundMe Link:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-fund-for-fighting-against-bill-104