Every year, on May 18, thousands of Tamil-Canadians commemorate the Mullivaikkal Massacre, the mass killing of tens of thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils in 2009 during the closing days of the civil war.
This year marks the 13th anniversary of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. The Civil War in Sri Lanka began in 1983. For 26 years, the Sri Lankan state perpetuated mass murder against Tamils, which culminated in the indiscriminate killing of 70,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of the war, according to the United Nations.
Genocide is the deliberate and organized killing of a group or groups of people, with the intention of destroying their identity as an ethnic, cultural, or religious group. CUPW recognizes the Tamil Genocide, honours the lives that were lost and affirms and condemns the continued death, destruction and suffering of the Tamil people.
The Tamil community in Canada is one of the largest outside of South-East Asia and many still have families and friends suffering in their homeland. Tamils in Sri Lanka today report systematic discrimination in areas including government employment, university education, and access to justice.