January is more than just the first month of the year, it is also Tamil Heritage Month, a time to recognize and celebrate the many contributions that Canadians of Tamil descent have made to the growth and prosperity of this country.
In 2016, the House of Commons voted to designate January as Tamil Heritage Month. The month of January is an important month for the Tamil community, as Thai Pongal, the multi-day Tamil harvest festival, takes place. This year’s festival will happen between January 15 to 18 this year.
The Tamil people are an ethnic group originally from southern India and Sri Lanka, with a recorded history going back more than 2,000 years. Tamils began immigrating to Canada as early as the 1950s. With the outbreak of riots and eventual civil war in Sri Lanka in 1983, Tamil migration to Canada increased significantly.