Tamil Elections Canada

Canadian News:

CBC.Ca:

Metronews:

Macleans:

Canadianbusiness:
TORONTO, Dec. 20 /CNW/ - Based on the official poll results, the Canadian Tamils overwhelmingly voted for the formation of the independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka.
The people who have voted in the referendum polls in Canada gave a 99.8 % mandate today that they support the formation of an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka. They reaffirmed the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution of 1976 that called for the creation of the Tamil state, which was mandated by Tamils in the north and east of the island of Sri Lanka in the 1977 general elections. Out of 48,583 voters who turned out across Canada, 48,481 voted yes, 85 voted no and 16 were invalid. >> read more

csmonitor: Tamils in Canada vote for independent homeland in Sri Lanka

TamilNet:
99.82 percent of 48,583 voters mandated independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the poll conducted in 31 centres across Canada, Saturday. The Canadian media and politicians showed great interest in the process of the ballot and organizers expressed satisfaction as 50, 000 was the expected turn out they quoted to media earlier. The poll was officiated by ES&S a professional company in North America that used counting machines. Unlike in Norway and France and contrary to earlier assurances, the ballot took place with complete registration of voters, which limited confidential participation, observers said. Voter turn out is assessed to be between 50 and 65 percent, but no authentic statistics is available on eligible Eezham Tamil voters. >>read more

The Star: Referendum calls for independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka
Many in Canada's Sri Lankan Tamil community took part in a referendum on Saturday, with a majority of those voting in the symbolic event expected to reaffirm support for the creation of an independent state for disenfranchised relatives back home.

"The basic freedoms and rights that we have here in Canada are not being upheld in Sri Lanka," said Darshika Selvasivam, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Tamil Elections Canada, which organized the vote. >> read more

CBC News:Tamil-Canadians vote for independent state in Sri Lanka

Canadian Tamils of Sri Lankan descent have voted almost unanimously in favour of the creation of a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka, claims a group that organized a "referendum" on the issue.

The Coalition for Tamil Elections in Canada said 99.8 per cent of the 48,583 people who turned out to vote Saturday supported an autonomous state in the island nation.

The voting process was managed and monitored by ES&S, a voting machine manufacturer, the coalition said. Voters were registered before casting their ballots, following instructions from ES&S.
>>read more

theglobeandmail:

digitaljournal: Canadian Tamils hit the polls on Dec. 19

In major cities across the country, the Coalition for Tamil Elections Canada announced that Canadian Tamils will vote to test the Vaddukkoddai Resolution.
On December 19, thousands of Canadian Tamils will vote in cities across Canada to test the current political validity of the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution,
>>read more

TORONTO:

International Recognition:

Statements at the United Nations Commission of Human Rights recognising the right of the people of Tamil Eelam to self determination

At the United Nations, during the past several years, the Tamils' right to self determination has received recognition by more than 65 non governmental organisations at sessions of the UN Commission on Human Rights (and its Sub Commission) in Geneva. These NGO Statements included the following:

The systematic violations of human rights by the Sri Lanka government over a period of four decades are well documented and are, clearly, no accidental happenings. They constitute evidence of the resolute and determined effort of an alien Sinhala majority to subjugate and assimilate the people of Tamil Eelam within the framework of a unitary Sinhala Buddhist Sri Lankan state.The people of Tamil Eelam have suffered enough and have waited long enough for their human rights. Today, they are a people who can no longer be denied their right to self determination.

"..A social group, which shares objective elements such as a common language and which has acquired a subjective consciousness of togetherness, by its life within a relatively well defined territory, and its struggle against alien domination, clearly constitutes a 'people' with the right to self determination. Today, there is an urgent need for the international community to recognise that the Tamil population in the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka are such a 'people' with the right to freely choose their political status."

"..Before the advent of the British in 1833, separate kingdoms existed for the Tamil areas and for the Sinhala areas in the island. The Tamil people and the Sinhala people were brought within the confines of one state for the first time by the British in 1833. After the departure of the British in 1948, an alien Sinhala people speaking a language different to that of the Tamils and claiming a separate and distinct heritage has persistently denied the rights and fundamental freedoms of the Tamil people..."

"..Sri Lanka has consistently denied the right to self-determination of the Tamils and refused to recognize the Tamils as a people. By constitutional amendment Sri Lanka has prohibited even peaceful promotion of the Tamil demand for self-determination as unlawful. Furthermore, it has unleashed a full-fledged war against the Tamils to suppress their struggle for political independence. The Sri Lankan government's action is clearly in violation of the 1970 Declaration on Friendly Relations and is illegal. And any power that gives military or economic assistance to perpetuate this war which is being conducted to deny the Tamils right to self-determination is also in complicity with this illegal war. The armed struggle of the Tamils is for the right to self-determination and is thus a legitimate political struggle for independence under international law..."

International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, 1999 "..The struggle of the Tamils of Sri Lanka for instance, provides a strong argument for determining when a people should have the right to declare itself an independent and sovereign state. The current conflict in Sri Lanka began following independence in 1948 with a series of government policies that progressively and systematically deprived the Tamil population of its fundamental rights, and institutionalised violent persecutions and human rights abuses. Following 1983 the Tamil's struggle for their rights which had hitherto been non violent, transformed into a military campaign led the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, whose objective remains the removal of Sinhalese control of the north-eastern region of the island, the historical homeland of the Tamils..."

"..the Tamils in Sri Lanka have an ancient heritage, a vibrant culture, a living language tracing, its origins to 5000 years and a political consciousness developed over their long history. For all intent and purposes the Tamils constitute a people who can call upon article 1 of ICCPR for the right to self-determination. However the Sri Lankan government has failed to acknowledge this right and has refused to enter into any reasonable dialogue to address the concerns of the Tamils let alone settle the dispute. The Sri Lankan government further has obstructed any peaceful opportunities for the Tamil people to campaign for greater self-determination..."

"...in Sri Lanka the basic fundamental freedoms and human rights of the Tamil people have been violated with impunity for half a century by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan Government on an ideology of racial supremacy and exclusive possession and control of the island. All their attempts through peaceful and democratic means to co-exist as equals was met with armed repression. Having left with no alternative the Tamil people exercised their democratic right in 1977 for independence on the basis of the right to self-determination. The national liberation movement of the Tamil people arose as resistance to state oppression and to liberate the Tamil people towards freedom and independence..."

".. let us leave aside any further historical reference to facts all too well known by now and just recall the 1977 elections when over 75% of Tamils voted for independence, a true plebiscite that instead of being considered as a conclusive proof of the Tamils' wish to govern themselves triggered instead an escalation of repression by the government. Considering the history of these past years and the government's refusal to even entertain the possibility of a dialogue the Tamils are well justified in believing today that their aspirations can only be fulfilled through the creation of an independent Tamil state."

"IED is convinced that the Tamil people on the island of Ceylon clearly meet the test of peoples with the right to self-determination under the classic international law model: they were an independent country prior to the colonial period but forcibly amalgamated with another country under the colonial administrative policy of "unitary rule"; they have an identifiable territory, distinct language, culture, religion and ethnicity; and they have made their choice of separate sovereignty clearly and with strong leadership. They have the capacity and will for self-governance. We understand that certain countries, for covert and overt political reasons related to their foreign policy and economic objectives in the region, try to deny that such a right exists. Yet even these countries cannot deny the application of the right to self-determination from a racist regime."

"Legal scholars and non-governmental organizations have been very vocal in their support for the right of the Tamil people to self-determination. In this regard, there have been hundreds of conferences, symposia, oral and written statements at the Commission as well as in many countries. .. Even the few experts unwilling to reach to the pre-colonial period to support self-determination due to "passage of time" and other practical and tactical concerns, urge that the failure, since 1949, of the Sinhala-dominated governments to afford the Tamil people basic rights in spite of negotiations with various Tamil leaders, ripens the right to self-determination as the only practical remedy for repression. The right may even ripen if, given the relative numbers of majority versus minority groups, the minority cannot effectively ever win in issues of importance to them. This, then, becomes a violation of governance rights. In Sri Lanka, in addition to the clear oppression of the Tamil minority, the Tamil people and their leadership are unable to effectively address anything of importance to the Tamil people: fishing rights, environmental concerns, or even post-Tsunami relief efforts."