Mayor Brown and the Tamil genocide monument

The concerns for Tamils in Sri Lanka from the Canadian Government are in sharp contrast with their historical oppression of natives and active involvement in the displacement of people during the Vietnam War 

• The US, the UK, France, Australia and Canada sent troops into Vietnam in 1995. It is estimated 10,000 to 40,000 Canadian soldiers enlisted in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War
• A UNICEF report dated September 2024 states that 39,965 people had died in the Gaza conflict as of 16 August, including 14,100 children and 9,000 women; more than 92,000 had been wounded, including 12,320 children
• Mayor Brown’s accusation of Tamils being killed during Sri Lanka’s ethnic war or discriminatory practices since independence from the British, does not constitute genocide

Earlier this month, many in our country were unpleasantly surprised when we learned that Canada—a country built on genocide and the violent dispossession of its indigenous people—had declared open a monument commemorating ‘Tamil Genocide in Lanka’. 
Mayor Brown of Brampton, himself the progeny of white settlers who violently dispossessed the indigenous people of Canada, declared open the monument, claiming the memorial would serve to honour the lives lost in the Lankan civil war.
Genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are the new catchwords used by the ‘developed’ countries of the West and the US to describe civil disturbances in countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America and particular countries in Eastern Europe. In other words, those states that do not fall in line with Western attempts to control the assets of these countries.
For instance, the US, the UK, France, Australia and Canada sent troops into Vietnam in 1995. It is estimated 10,000 to 40,000 Canadian soldiers enlisted in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War.
As a result of the war, over 2 million Vietnamese civilians were killed. No one however, has accused the Americans or their allies of charges of genocide! Could it be, this is because the war mongers were white and their victims non-white?
Sadly, Brown does not recognise these killings as being genocidal in nature. It is therefore not surprising that Mayor Brown does not recognise Canada’s own horrifying historic genocide against the native people of Canada.
According to the Guardian, around 16,000 indigenous children were taken from their families and communities, and put up for fostering or adoption by mostly non-indigenous families across Canada and the United States—without the consent of their parents. Some were sent as far away as New Zealand and Australia.
Yet, according to Brown, the Mayor of Brampton, it was after a monumental struggle, the city’s administration was able to declare open the monument commemorating the genocide of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka... No mention of the fact that Canada itself is built on genocide or an apology to the native Canadians who suffered the genocidal policies.
The central element of genocide, is the specific intent to destroy a particular group. Mayor Brown’s simplistic charge of Tamils being killed during Sri Lanka’s ethnic war or discriminatory practices since Lanka received independence from the British, does not constitute genocide. 
There has never been any attempt to wipe out all traces of Tamil people or Tamil culture from Sri Lanka at any time before or since independence.
This is quite in contrast to Canada, which has demonstrated a continuing policy, with varying motivations but with an underlying intent that’s remained the same—to destroy Indigenous peoples physically, biologically and as social units.
The majority of Lankans do not deny in the aftermath of independence, many discriminatory acts of legislation were passed which adversely affected the Tamil 
community. The government’s refusal to voluntarily change these grievances led to the armed struggle during which thousands of Lankans died violent deaths and thousands of others suffered in torture chambers of both the state and militants.
But neither the Sinhala-dominated state nor the Tamil militants who took up arms to defend their rights attempted to wipe out the race, religion or culture of the other. In fact even during the height of the armed struggle, even at the level of the United Nations, it was recognised that Lanka was the only country in the world where the government supplied food and other necessities to areas controlled by rebels.
In Canada, however, quite to the contrary, discriminatory policies against the native Canadian population continue unabated, and are having devastating effects on Indigenous communities in that land. The genocide continues.
Immediate past Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accepted the conclusion that genocide has been part and parcel of Canada’s policy toward its native population. But more importantly, the commission of genocide requires the Canadian people as a whole to accept the reality of the crime of genocide they have committed against the native people of Canada and make reparations.
This has not happened. Mayor Brown would do well to face the fact that he and his settler state continue committing genocide against the native population of Canada, as pointed out by Canadian Government Commissions appointed to enquire into genocide against Canada’s indigenous communities. 
Instead of grandstanding and casting stones at Lanka, Mayor Brown would do well to direct his efforts at ending the continuing acts of genocide against the indigenous peoples in Canada. It is, in fact, a legal obligation. It requires an honest and active process of decolonisation and must necessarily go beyond apologies.
For the Lankan Tamils associated with Mayor Brown in his Tamil genocide memorial project, it is time to rethink. 
Do we as Tamils want to be part of a cover-up to racists attempting to take attention away from the crime of genocide committed by the white settler state, attempting to draw attention away from the crimes it commits against the Canadian native population? 
Let us remember that while Mayor Brown perhaps played a leading role in putting up a monument to commemorate the genocide of Lankan Tamils, he and his fellow leaders of the white settler state in Canada refuse to even permit the United Nations Security Council to discuss Israeli genocide in Palestine.
According to the Canadian government and its Western allies, Israel is simply using its right to defend itself!
Since Israel began its murderous attacks on the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023, Israel has blocked all supplies of water, food, medicine and other basic requirements to the Palestinians. It has destroyed over 90 per cent of Palestinian housing.
According to a UNICEF (the UN Children’s Fund) report dated September 2024, 39,965 people had died in the Gaza conflict as of 16 August, including 14,100 children and 9,000 women; more than 92,000 had been wounded, including 12,320 children. The report added thousands more had been reported missing and are ‘probably buried under the rubble’.