Srilankan Canadian or Tamil Canadian? Vive la Canada

Topic started by Vive la Canada (@ on-tor-blr-a58-01-213.look.ca) on Mon Aug 18 00:01:44 .
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Vive La Canada!
Source: TamilCanadian

The last couple of days have brought back painful memories of the lives many of us left in Sri Lanka. North America has never seen a blackout of this magnitude and hopefully will never see it again. For those of us who have lived through the horror of war, and especially the anti-Tamil riots in 1983, it is a poignant reminder of an egregious past. It inspired many of us to move out of our country of birth and seek asylum in states that would welcome us.

I for one came to Canada in order to secure a life free from the evils of war and racial hatred. When I landed in Canada, I knew this was home. I no longer felt like a second class citizen in my own country. In fact I became a citizen of Canada by choice and in many ways it is the wisest choice I ever made. While all of us at some level have a connection to the people back home, we have to reject the concept of state espoused in Sri Lanka. We rejected and gave up our citizenship and sought refuge on the basis of being persecuted by the government and its many arms. This continues to this day as Tamils are suppressed.

It is unlikely that I would have had the opportunity to go to university, or for that matter live until I was thirty. The scars of the anti-Tamil riots in 1983 and for many the scars of war since then, will be a continuos reminder of the suffering endured by our people. I am proud to be Canadian - a Tamil Canadian. This is the country that gave me hope, opportunity and most importantly security.

Nationality signifies our allegiance to a particular country. To say I am Canadian signifies my allegiance to this country and an unconditional support for its ideals. One of the premises of citizenship in Canada is the deeply rooted acceptance of multiculturalism. In my own experience, it signifies my Tamil-Canadian identity. Not Sri-Lankan-Canadian. The latter concoction is problematic as it espouses a dual, split identity of nation states. It in many ways offends our sense of being when we describe our allegiance to a country which persecuted us and chased us to Canada.

This is why I am rather disturbed at the recent set of activities being organized by the Sri Lankan government in Canada. The government seems to be hell bent on developing the notion of "Sri Lankanness", which to many of us is offensive. It is offensive because it is the reason why we sought refuge in Canada. The state persecuted us, thereby forcing us to flea the homes of our ancestors. It forced us to be something we are not: Sri Lankan. It is ironic then that some of us seem to be swayed by the idea that we identify ourselves as Sri Lankan-Canadians.

The Sri Lankan Government has invited all "Sri Lankans" to a day at Canada's Wonderland on the 23rd of August to celebrate our identity. This event, being sponsored by several Tamil business people is offensive and destructive. It is offensive, because many of those Tamil Canadians attempting to support and sponsor this event were themselves refugees who fled Sri Lanka as a result of persecution by the State. Yet, 20 years later, they seem to have conveniently forgotten their past. It is destructive to conceptualize the Tamil-Canadian identity as "Sri Lankan" because the concept of Sri Lanka is by its very nature artificial. There is no Sri Lankan culture or language. Rather, there are distinct languages and cultures in Sri Lanka - with Tamil and Singhala being dominant players. The concept of Sri Lanka itself is framed by the majority language - which in Singhala. Hence, Tamil-Canadians conception of themselves as Sri Lankan is a farce which will assist in destroying the concept of the Tamil-Canadian identity.

The blackout in Ontario and other parts of the U.S. may be the spark that lit the brain cells to conceptually accept the reality that we are all Tamil-Canadian. It may remind some of us of the days of blackouts following July 23, 1983 and beyond. The only difference is that the government in Canada is not targeting you and me because we are a member of a minority group. They are not raping our sisters and mothers nor are they randomly arresting and detaining our men. This reality should not be lost on those of us that call Canada our home and native land. Vive la Canada

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