![\"LTTE](\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/prabhakaran-1-18-05-09.jpg\")
<\/a>LTTE Leader<\/p><\/div>\n
“On April 10, the GOC domestically listed as terrorists under the Canadian Criminal Code the LTTE\/Tamil Tigers (other listed aliases can be found in the announcement by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OFSI), www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca.) The Tigers are the 39th terrorist group to be outlawed under Canada’s Criminal Code and the first since May 2005.”\u00a0the US Embassy Ottawa informed Washington.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Colombo Telegraph<\/a><\/span>\u00a0found the related leaked cable from the\u00a0WikiLeaks<\/a><\/span>\u00a0database. The cable is classified as \u201cCONFIDENTIAL\u201d written on April 10, 2006 by the US Embassy Ottawa.<\/p>\n The Embassy said; “The LTTE had previously been listed under Canada’s less-stringent United Nations Suppression of Terrorism Regulations (UNSTR).”<\/p>\n “Approximately a quarter of the world’s Tamil population lives outside of Sri Lanka. Canada is home to the largest Tamil diaspora, estimated at roughly 200,000 (see reftel B), and Tamils are currently Canada’s fastest growing ethnic group. The majority of Tamils live in the Toronto area, giving it the largest Tamil urban population of any city in the world including Sri Lanka itself. Experts have estimated that in the 1990s, over 80 percent of the Tamil Tigers’ military budget came from overseas sources, and various reports have estimated that the Canadian Tamil diaspora was a source of between $1-10 million annually. A recent report from Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org) highlighted the role of Canadian Tamils in funding “The Final War”. In this report, Human Rights Watch focused on signs it had found of extensive extortion by the Tigers within the Canadian Tamil community, listing examples of Tamil Canadians who were threatened both in Canada and on visits to Sri Lanka.” the Embassy further said.<\/p>\n Placing a comment the Embassy said; “The decision to list the Tigers under the Criminal Code comes as no surprise from a Conservative government that has been urging such a move for years. The Conservatives are not beholden to urban ridings with a large Sri Lankan population, which they did not win in any event and probably have no hope of winning in the future: they therefore have greater freedom of action than the Liberals did. The designation of the Tigers clears up a basic incongruity in Canada, where the Tigers were listed under one set of rules but not another, and brings Canada into alignment with its close allies who have listed the Tigers. It is also another indication of the current government’s desire to act decisively, both to distinguish itself from the previous government and to show leadership and resolve, with or without international cover.”<\/p>\n Read the cable below for further details;<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":73472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,6969,2375,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories","category-wikileaks"],"yoast_head":"\nC O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 001029 \r\n\r\nSIPDIS \r\n\r\nSIPDIS \r\n\r\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 04\/10\/2016 \r\nTAGS: CA EFIN ETTC KTFN PREL PTER CE\r\nSUBJECT: CANADA OUTLAWS LTTE\/TAMIL TIGERS \r\n\r\nREF: A. TORONTO 275 \r\n\r\n \u00b6B. TORONTO 151 \r\n \u00b6C. MADER\/LAMBERT 3\/31\/06 EMAIL \r\n\r\nClassified By: EconMinCouns B. Mohler for reasons 1.4b,d \r\n\r\n\u00b61. (C) Summary: Canada's Conservative-minority government \r\ndomestically designated the LTTE\/Tamil Tigers under Canada's \r\nCriminal Code on April 10, 2006. As a result of this \r\nlisting, participating in Tiger activities (including \r\nfundraising) is a criminal offense and financial institutions \r\nmust report any financial transactions made by the Tamil \r\nTigers (or listed aliases): the Tigers are estimated to raise \r\nmillions of dollars annually in Canada, sometimes through \r\nextortion. This listing is an example of the \r\nConservative-led government's strengthening of anti-terrorism \r\npolicies, which the Conservative Party promised as part of \r\nits platform during the 2005\/2006 federal elections. End \r\nsummary. \r\n\r\n\u00b62. (C) On April 10, the GOC domestically listed as \r\nterrorists under the Canadian Criminal Code the LTTE\/Tamil \r\nTigers (other listed aliases can be found in the announcement \r\nby the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions \r\n(OFSI), www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca.) The Tigers are the 39th \r\nterrorist group to be outlawed under Canada's Criminal Code \r\nand the first since May 2005. The Embassy was informed of \r\nthe probable listing at the end of March, 2006, and had been \r\ninvited to a pre-announcement briefing the morning of April \r\n10; however, the news was leaked by the National Post two \r\ndays earlier. Comment: our Department of Foreign Affairs \r\nand International Trade (DFAIT) contact told us that, while \r\nhe knew that the National Post, a Conservative-linked \r\nnewspaper, would be breaking the story, he had not expected \r\nthe news to be printed two days before the government's \r\nofficial announcement and only one day after the decision. \r\nThis confusion on the part of DFAIT's working-level staff \r\nsuggests either a disconnect between the government and its \r\nchosen media voice or a disconnect between the rank-and-file \r\nbureaucrats and their new political bosses in the \r\nConservative minority government. End comment. \r\n\r\n\u00b63. (SBU) The LTTE had previously been listed under Canada's \r\nless-stringent United Nations Suppression of Terrorism \r\nRegulations (UNSTR). Under both the UNSTR and the Canadian \r\nCriminal Code, Canadian financial institutions and foreign \r\nbranches operating in Canada are required to review their \r\nrecords on a continuing basis for the listed entities and \r\nreport findings on a monthly basis to OFSI. If, in the \r\ncourse of these reviews, institutions find that they are \r\nholding accounts for or contracts with listed organizations, \r\nthe institutions are required to report this information to \r\nthe Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian \r\nSecurity Intelligence Service (CSIS). In addition, \r\ninstitutions that are also reporting entities under Canada's \r\nProceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing \r\nAct must also submit Terrorist Property Reports to the \r\nFinancial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada \r\n(FINTRAC). \r\n\r\n\u00b64. (C) Beyond the finance implications of this listing, \r\ndomestic designation under the Criminal Code of the Tamil \r\nTigers means that it will now be a criminal offense to \r\nparticipate in Tiger activities, and anyone convicted of \r\nfinancially supporting the Tigers could face up to ten years \r\nin prison. The GOC did not, however, list the many Canadian \r\nfront organizations for the Tigers, despite the fact that \r\nCanada's anti-terrorism act allows the GOC to designate \r\nterrorist groups and their front organizations; in the past, \r\nthe CSIS has stated that eight front organizations support \r\nQthe CSIS has stated that eight front organizations support \r\nthe Tigers in Canada. Comment: Although it is unclear how \r\nthe Tigers have been moving their Canadian funds out of the \r\ncountry, significant amounts were reportedly raised by \r\nmortgage fraud as well as fund-raising within the Tamil \r\ncommunity. These and other funds may have been held in \r\nCanadian bank accounts (see reftel B.) The prominent \r\nfront-page coverage leaking the anticipated designation of \r\nthe Tigers on Saturday, followed a full two days later by the \r\nofficial requirement for banks to report Tiger transactions \r\nand accounts, may have allowed funds to be withdrawn by the \r\nTigers. End comment. \r\n\r\n\u00b65. (SBU) Approximately a quarter of the world's Tamil \r\npopulation lives outside of Sri Lanka. Canada is home to the \r\nlargest Tamil diaspora, estimated at roughly 200,000 (see \r\nreftel B), and Tamils are currently Canada's fastest growing \r\nethnic group. The majority of Tamils live in the Toronto \r\narea, giving it the largest Tamil urban population of any \r\ncity in the world including Sri Lanka itself. Experts have \r\nestimated that in the 1990s, over 80 percent of the Tamil \r\nTigers' military budget came from overseas sources, and \r\nvarious reports have estimated that the Canadian Tamil \r\n\r\nOTTAWA 00001029 002 OF 002 \r\n\r\ndiaspora was a source of between $1-10 million annually. A \r\nrecent report from Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org) \r\nhighlighted the role of Canadian Tamils in funding \"The Final \r\nWar\". In this report, Human Rights Watch focused on signs it \r\nhad found of extensive extortion by the Tigers within the \r\nCanadian Tamil community, listing examples of Tamil Canadians \r\nwho were threatened both in Canada and on visits to Sri \r\nLanka. \r\n\r\n\u00b66. (C) The Human Rights Watch report received extensive \r\npress coverage in Canada and may have spurred the \r\nConservative minority government to push through a \r\ndesignation that the Conservatives had demanded for many \r\nyears while in Opposition. However, our DFAIT contacts claim \r\nthat the designation has been in the works since the Fall of \r\n2005, before the Liberal government fell. If, in fact, the \r\nLiberals began the process to list the Tigers, the \r\nConservatives are not sharing the credit now. While the \r\nLiberals were in power, they refused calls to list the \r\nTigers, claiming that they did not want to interfere with Sri \r\nLanka's peace process. A former Canadian ambassador to Sri \r\nLanka, Martin Collacott, told the National Post that this \r\nrefusal to list the Tigers actually hindered peace efforts. \r\nCollacott is quoted as saying, \"The Tigers and their \r\nsupporters in Canada and particularly Toronto had become \r\nadept at delivering votes from the Tamil community to Liberal \r\ncandidates at election time, and as long as this support \r\ncontinued, the Liberals were prepared to let the Tigers have \r\nvirtual free rein to carry out their activities (in Canada).\" \r\n\r\n\u00b67. (C) During the federal election campaign before the \r\nJanuary 2006 election, the Conservatives pledged to add the \r\nTigers to Canada's official list of terrorist groups. The \r\nConservatives are casting this as part of a strengthening of \r\nCanadian counterterrorism policies underway since they took \r\noffice; last week, the Conservative-led government also \r\nsevered ties with the Palestinian Authority over the refusal \r\nof Hamas to moderate its stance toward Israel and forswear \r\nterrorism. As reported in reftel A, Canada deported a \r\nleading Tamil gang leader (Jeyaseelam Thuraisingam) the day \r\nthe Conservative Party won the federal election, although on \r\ncriminal, not terrorist, grounds. The addition of the Tigers \r\nto the Criminal Code is expected to assist in prosecution and \r\ndeportation of Tamil gangsters, as well as combat Tamil \r\nfundraising in Canada. \r\n\r\n\u00b68. (C) Comment: The decision to list the Tigers under the \r\nCriminal Code comes as no surprise from a Conservative \r\ngovernment that has been urging such a move for years. The \r\nConservatives are not beholden to urban ridings with a large \r\nSri Lankan population, which they did not win in any event \r\nand probably have no hope of winning in the future: they \r\ntherefore have greater freedom of action than the Liberals \r\ndid. The designation of the Tigers clears up a basic \r\nincongruity in Canada, where the Tigers were listed under one \r\nset of rules but not another, and brings Canada into \r\nalignment with its close allies who have listed the Tigers. \r\nIt is also another indication of the current government's \r\ndesire to act decisively, both to distinguish itself from the \r\nprevious government and to show leadership and resolve, with \r\nor without international cover. End comment. \r\n\r\nVisit Canada's Classified Web Site at \r\nhttp:\/\/www.state.sgov.gov\/p\/wha\/ottawa \r\n\r\nWILKINS<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"