“Go back to Colombo….you are not welcome in Brampton”, Mayor of Brampton chants racist slurs on anti-Genocide supporters. It is truly unbecoming for a Mayor to be making such wild statements. On what basis can he defend the creation of a Genocide Memorial – for whom is it? So far, even after 16 years since defeat of LTTE, no one has produced the names of 40,000 dead, some form of identification, skeletons of the dead or even police complaints of missing. Let it be pointed out that with no proof of the 40,000 killed, no one can point any finger of murder leave alone claim “genocide”. Additionally, no LTTE dead can be mourned as “civilian”. LTTE was a terrorist movement, a sovereign state has every right to deal with armed terrorists. Moreover, LTTE had a separate trained & armed civilian force. None of these dead can claim to be “civilian” either. The LTTE holds annual commemorations for its dead. It’s hilarious to see foreign MPs actually attend these events shedding crocodile tears for ‘dead terrorists” fooling the rest of the world to think they are “civilians”. The irony & hypocrisy is that these memorials are all decorated with LTTE symbols, insignia, Eelam flags but the media communications want the world to think they are mourning “civilians” instead of dead LTTE terrorists. No wonder Brown wants to lift the ban on the LTTE too. Maybe next year he can pass a motion for a monument for Prabakaran too. Perhaps he can do monuments for all LTTE terrorist key leaders around entire Brampton.
As of the 2021 Canadian Census, approximately 1,555 residents of Brampton are Sinhalese while total Sinhalese living in Canada is said to be 18,000.
As of the 2021 Canadian Census, approximately 237,890 Sri Lankan Tamils live in Canada.
Who is Patrick Brown?
- Born 26 May 1978 (just 20 years when LTTE bombed the sacred Temple of the Tooth in Kandy in 1998 / just 30 years when Sri Lanka’s military liberated Eastern Province from LTTE)
- 51st Mayor of Brampton, Ontario since December 2018
- January 2018 – Brown was accused of sexual misconduct by 2 women & resigned as leader of Ontario PC Party
- In 2022 he was disqualified from race for federal Conservative leadership due to alleged violations of Canada Elections Act including issues related to campaign financing.
In April 2019, Patrick Brown introduced a motion in Brampton City Council to officially recognize May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. Brown who has never been to Sri Lanka was obviously influenced by the 9375 Tamil residents of Brampton (as per 2021 census). To please 1.6% of Brampton’s population Brown has created a Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day.
It is natural for any to wonder why a person who has not been to Sri Lanka, to be influenced enough to introduce a motion. This question is explained in the support given to him by the 9375 resident Tamil community in his bid for Conservative Party leadership via even financial assistance. His 2018 book he details how he utilized Tamil organizers who were promised appointments to various boards (The Pointer) This was one reason why he was disqualified from the leadership race for breaches of campaign finance rules including vote-buying. Thus, his “genocide” claims come from the various sources that led to his disqualification.
Patrick Brown claims “genocide deniers, you are not welcome in Brampton, you are not welcome in Canada. Go back to Colombo” – on what facts is Brown claiming genocide? Was he witness? Who are his sources? If it’s the pro-LTTE elements that financed his campaign, there is little that needs to be left to anyone’s imagination.
It is fascinating that the casualty figures of Sri Lanka & the UN Country Team matches with total less than 8000 while all of the sources quoting figures from their pro-LTTE friends claim 40,000 to 200,000 dead. These figures plucked from god knows where are only accompanied by well-funded campaigns with no facts or data. Surely, if anyone claims a figure as dead, they should accompany that with details of the dead. Simply throwing a number & claiming “genocide” is unacceptable especially when it is directed at a National Army.
We cannot stop lies. We cannot stop people living in cuckoo worlds. All of the genocide noise comes from Tamils living overseas, holding foreign passports, educating their children overseas, employing their children in foreign jobs & unlikely to ever come & reside in Sri Lanka. While their next generation of children are also continuing the lies, a question the Tamil community never likes to answer is why they never sacrificed a single child to LTTE as a child soldier. Why was it always Tamil orphans kidnapped from orphanages & turned into child soldiers, why was it low caste & poor Tamil children kidnapped from their homes & turned into child soldiers. The Tamils drumming human rights from Canada & other western climes never considered the human rights of a single Tamil child soldier who comprised 1/3 of the LTTE fighting force. From the reports that have emerged these child soldiers served as comfort women, were raped, sexually abused apart from having their entire childhood denied to them. These are live cases and real stories unlike the genocide that Patrick Brown claims. If Brown & Co do not like to take up these real issues but think that putting up a monument is a big deal, they can put monuments all round Canada.
However, Brown’s actions should reach the Brampton Integrity Commissioner & the Ontario Ombudsman, given his controversial past.
Why would a Canadian mayor, who has never visited Sri Lanka, take such a strong stance on a foreign conflict?
Are vote-buying accusations linked to diaspora groups a sign of deeper political manipulation?
If former combatants are honored as civilians, what does that mean for the integrity of war narratives and justice?
Why do diaspora advocates focus heavily on genocide claims but never address LTTE’s use of child soldiers and other human rights abuses?
Should Canadian political figures be involved in foreign ethnic or national conflicts?
Frankly, we do not mind the new Public Security Minister one day becoming the Prime Minister of Canada & using these monuments to declare Eelam in Canada. Yet, Canada has secured all provisions to ensure such separatism cannot take place constitutionally, yet why is Canada advocating for such in other countries?
Shenali D Waduge