Crimes against minorities cannot be tolerated

National Post      Nov. 10, 2011 

Re: Sri Lanka's (Nearly) Forgotten Massacre, Jonathan Kay, Nov. 8.

The Tamils' situation in Sri Lanka brings to mind the old legal maxim, inter arma enim silent leges - essentially, in times of war, the law falls silent. Most unfortunate for all Tamils is the continued cynical silence of the international community on this troubling ongoing ethnic conflict.

Sri Lanka is a democracy only in its most slovenly application, and even if it is a full, blazing beacon of a democracy, the category offers no protection or excuse for what that "democracy" so gruesomely did to Tamils. It is time for Canadian leaders to say whether they are or are not willing to take a tough stand against such a sham.

This is a marvellous opportunity for Canada to demonstrate to the world that crimes against minorities cannot be tolerated. Tamils will welcome any new shift in Canadian foreign policy that peruses an agenda of showing support for levelling the playing filed for the disenfranchised in Sri Lanka. It is the only position that is consistent with Canada's own democratic ideals.

We must not allow splattered blood from Tamil victims of Sri Lankan tyranny to stain our conscience forever. The proud flag of this nation must not be allowed to wave alongside countries such as Sri Lanka, whose leaders lust to spill blood in a barbaric frenzy of ethnic fanaticism.

Roy Ratnavel, Vancouver.