Markham – 26th April 2021. In a heavily debated General Committee Meeting, the council has sidelined on the proposed “Tamil Genocide” Memorial as per the 6th of April motion.
Deputation requests were seen 7 from pro-seperatist Tamil Diaspora highlighting “Tamil Genocide is not recognised by Federal Government and United Nations, but Markham has to recognise Tamil Genocide” narrative. Few of the attendees had links to Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam seeking seperate state in Sri Lanka, attempting to connect Markham into a political tug of war, outside of the mandate of City of Markham to recognise a mythical genocide according to folk tales citing unjustified hearsay accounts of casualty figures alone.
A highly debated meeting had to be moderated by Deputy Mayor stating “This is an open municipality and welcomes people to speak to this council”. He also mentioned that “we don’t get people into trouble for speaking with us, not addressing Markham council” and upheld proud Markham policy of open dialog and understanding.
Responses were seen in Twitter, requesting that the councillor Asman stepdown from the position.
Other Tweets questioned the City of Markham to be informed more of the factual information pertaining to Sri Lankan conflict.
It was evident from all the pro-eelam deputants that non of them disclosed that the unsafe monument in concern was a local issue to Jaffna and that it was also rebuilt recently as a peace monument.
Consul General of Sri Lanka in Toronto Mr. Kapila S. Jayaweera appearing as a deputant presented facts to Council which in turn referred the matter to be investigated at a later date and assigned a low priority given the current priorities.
Closing remarks were made by Mayor Scarpitti acknowledge the concerns raised by the pro-seperatist Tamils present and reached out to the rest of the Tamil community. He re-iterated that “City of Markham is a city that welcome and support all people in Markham”.
Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition was included in requests sent to City of Markham by Markham residents to protest the April 6th Motion. Many residents complained of the untruthful nature of the motion as well as re-iterated the need for priority alignment given the current COVID-19 pandemic.
We would like to thank everyone for the shared service to the community. Any questions or concerns, please email to info@srilankancanadian.ca.
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