Tamil Rights Group Granted Leave to Intervene in Constitutional Challenges Against Ontario’s Tamil Genocide Legislation
Ontario's Superior Court of Justice allows for intervention in constitutional challenges against recently enacted Tamil Genocide legislation in Ontario, Canada.
MARKHAM, ONTARIO, CANADA, March 17, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Tamil Rights Group1 (TRG) has been granted leave by the Superior Court of Justice to intervene as an added party in the matters of Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario *(CV-21-668250) and Neville Hewage v. Attorney General of Ontario. The Attorney General of Ontario *(CV-21-663853) supported the proposed intervention.
As part of its intervention, TRG, through its counsel Janani Shanmuganathan, will introduce expert witness testimony on the history of the conflict in Sri Lanka and explain why the Tamil Genocide2 Education Week Act, 2021 is important to Tamil Ontarians. TRG’s aim is to provide the Court with a unique perspective centering the Eelam Tamil experience and to correct the factual record. The Applicants challenging the Act falsely assert that the legislation is rooted in a “Tamil-inspired” narrative of the conflict in Sri Lanka which amounts to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam “propaganda”.
Responding to the Applicants’ unsuccessful attempt to bar any intervention by the Tamil community, Justice William D. Black determined that “Having themselves asserted that the factual underpinnings of the Act are false, it is not open to them [the Applicants], in my opinion, to then purport to close the door on other points of view or debate about those propositions” and that “the proposed interveners are well-positioned to make helpful contributions to the record for the applications.”
“We are pleased to be granted leave by the Court as a party to this matter in order to make submissions based on broadly shared perspectives of Canadian Tamils. The Applicants, and their respective constitutional challenges, are not only seriously misrepresenting the Act but are also making patently false and misleading assertions about the facts surrounding the genocide of Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka. This is why we strongly feel it is important that the community voice is heard correctly by the Court,” stated Navaratnam Srinarayanathas, President, Tamil Rights Group.
TRG also welcomes the inclusion of another Tamil coalition – made up of the National Council of Canadian Tamils, the Canadian Tamil Academy, and the Canadian Tamil Youth Alliance – as an added party to these matters.
Those interested in supporting TRG’s intervention in these matters can contact Haran Viswanathan at haran@tamilrightsgroup.org.
Jaskaran Singh Sandhu
State Strategy
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WATCH NOW: Tamil Rights Group Initiates Campaign Seeking Justice for Tamils at International Criminal Court at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuoAEOOQGew
1 https://www.tamilrightsgroup.org/
2 https://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killing-fields
3 https://www.tamilrightsgroup.org/icc-campaign/