Canada to assist Lanka project for quality govt services

Colombo   July 28, 2016

Canada will assist Sri Lanka in a language project which aims to improve delivery of government services in both official languages Tamil and Sinhala, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said today. 

The two countries will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to fund the National Languages Equality Advancement Project during the ongoing visit of Stephan Dion, who became the first Canadian Foreign Minister to visit Sri Lanka in 13 years. 

The project aims to improve delivery of government services in both official languages - Tamil and Sinhala, Samaraweera said. 

Dion said Canada has much to share with Sri Lanka including the experience on issues such as official languages, the devolution of power, sustainable economic development, empowerment of women, legal expertise and youth skills development. 

Samaraweera and his Canadian counterpart discussed the importance of providing an economic peace dividend for the people of Sri Lanka and the interconnected nature of reconciliation and development during their meeting. 

The language disparity between the majority Sinhala community and the minority Tamil community is being often cited as one of the root causes of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. 

Tamils' issues mainly centered with Sinhala being made the state language in 1958. Later in 1987, Tamil was also made an official language. Yet the delivery of state services in the Tamil language was largely ignored. 

Samaraweera said he told Dion that Sri Lanka wants to see the return of Tamils who had fled to Canada when the ethnic conflict raged in the early 1980s. 

"We are keen to engage with the Sri Lankan community in Canada, and invite them to visit the country that they left, or was compelled to leave, long ago. I explained that we are keen that they also explore meaningful ways of contributing to Sri Lanka's reconciliation and development efforts," Samaraweera said. 

"Canada is committed to helping Sri Lanka further strengthen democracy and peace for all of its citizens. We note the importance of meaningful international involvement in such accountability and reconciliation mechanisms," Dion said. 

Dion also said that there is a need to focus especially on communities most directly affected by the conflict and Canada is ready to contribute to the re-establishment of livelihood opportunities for those displaced. 

He also called on President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. He will visit Jaffna tomorrow.