For Immediate Release
June 10, 2025

Markham, Ontario – Tamil Rights Group (TRG) expresses grave concern regarding the recent article published by Global News on June 6, 2025, titled “Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree under scrutiny over potential border security conflict of interest.” The publication presents a troubling narrative that recycles harmful stereotypes and casts unfair suspicion on the Tamil Canadian community through misleading and unsubstantiated associations with criminal behaviour.

In recent days, TRG has heard from a growing number of Tamil Canadians who have expressed serious concern and distress over the most recent article published by Global News. The article has caused significant harm, and our response reflects not only our organizations position, but also the concerns raised by those we serve.

The articles reference to particular banned entities in Canada—without meaningful context or contemporary relevance—reflects a troubling pattern of radicalized suspicion that is both irresponsible and damaging. Such references serve only to stigmatize Tamil Canadians, particularly those engaged in legitimate human rights advocacy. It undermines the credibility of Tamil voices and mischaracterizes advocacy for justice, accountability, and human rights as inherently threatening. This framing echoes disinformation tactics historically used by authoritarian regimes to delegitimize civil society and silence dissent.

As TRG outlined in its submissions to Canada’s Commission on Foreign Interference, disinformation of this nature in mainstream media creates fertile ground for foreign states to interfere in the lives of diaspora communities. In the Tamil context, this enables regimes such as Sri Lanka’s to intimidate activists, discredit survivors, and distort public perception by branding lawful advocacy efforts as threats to national security.

Tamil Canadians are an integral part of Canada’s social, economic, academic, and political fabric. They have consistently contributed to public service and civic life. To single out and cast suspicion on a Tamil elected official—without credible justification—not only undermines the integrity of that individual, but also reinforces a harmful narrative that Tamil influence in public life is inherently suspect. Such portrayals are discriminatory and incompatible with Canadian democratic values.

The article’s reference to Tamil asylum seekers as “migrants” who arrived aboard the MV Sun Sea and Ocean Lady, and its attempt to associate them with criminal behaviour, is also deeply problematic. While the piece briefly acknowledges that many were “civilians and children”, it downplays the fact that a majority were deemed admissible to Canada following thorough legal and security reviews. Several of these individuals have since provided key testimony as witnesses to mass atrocities committed in Sri Lanka in 2009. Framing these survivors through a security lens distorts the context of their arrival and fosters unwarranted suspicion toward a community that sought refuge from persecution.

In a society grounded in the rule of law, it is unacceptable that, in 2025, Tamil Canadians continue to be seen through the narrow prism of a long-concluded armed conflict. Advocacy for Tamil rights and the pursuit of justice for genocide must not be conflated with criminality—they are essential components of responsible international human rights work.

Tamil Rights Group welcomes the opportunity to engage in a constructive dialogue with Global News and other community stakeholders. We believe that an open conversation about the impact of reporting on racialized communities can contribute meaningfully to building journalistic standards rooted in fairness, accuracy, and social responsibility. It is important that Global News understands how this type of reporting not only fuels harmful stereotypes, but also undermines the legitimate human rights advocacy work being carried out by Tamil Canadians across the country.

TRG also calls on the public, policymakers, media institutions, and bodies responsible for upholding journalistic standards to critically assess narratives that subtly reinforce ethnic bias under the guise of national security. Equating political advocacy with criminal behaviour not only distorts public understanding, but also deepens divisions and hinders the full participation of racialized communities in Canadian civic life

Navaratnam Srinarayanadas | President and Chair

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For all media enquiries: Katpana Nagendra, General Secretary and Spokesperson | katpana@tamilrightsgroup.org | + 1 (778) 870-5824