Last weekend, it was announced that the Sri Lankan millitary had defeated the Tamil Tigers, seizing control of the island's coastline for the first time in 25 years. Fellow Blogher CE Singdha has posted an excellent look at the relevance of what this means not only to Tamil's but the future of the relationship between India and Sri Lanka.

For the past 3-4 months, residents and commuters to Toronto's downtown core have been greatly inconvenienced by multiple rallies contesting the war in Sri Lanka demanding that the Canadian government assist in stopping the war and that the government provide financial aid to help Tamil's who were displaced and injured. Even though the war has ended, as Singdha notes, there is still a lot of work to be done.

This morning I read an interesting opinion piece by Toronto Star's Haroon Siddiqui on the mixed reaction by Canadian's to the multiple ( but extremely organized) protests. People were not only pissed because main thoroughfares were blocked and multiple police officers were called to corral the protesters (which by many accounts were exceptionally peaceful and respectful), they were angered because of the old Canadian adage: 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do' I.E: Shut the hell up, you ungrateful immigrants:

We want Tamil Canadians, and other minorities, to "be Canadian." Yet when they act Canadian and exercise their Charter right to peaceful protest, we call them "Tamil's," the very identity we do not want them to revert to exclusively.

Siddiqui goes on to mention that Toronto, like probably every other large, urban dwelling in North America, has had it's share of protests. My alma mater, York University seems to have a strike every year (there were three in the four years I went there). Our hockey fans are completely nutty, and actually frighten me more than any other protesters I have witnessed. There are union-organized protests and the weekly swarming of young people who block up our entertainment district every weekend (it's crazy and it is dangerous), when police officers - some on horseback - have to head downtown and stop the myriad of fistfights and attempted sexual assaults.

And the Tamil-Canadian protesters were not so self-absorbed that they didn't even think about how they were inconveniencing others. They passed out flyers during protests to passerby's, acknowledging and apologizing for the (undeniable fact) they were inconveniencing them, and even the police admitted that these were some of the most organized protests they had ever experienced - even though they later offered up a hefty bill for their services.

So what's the problem? Well, multiculturalism and Canadians' intolerance towards it. Yes, yes, as I've repeatedly said before, we brag about our policies, so much 'better' than other countries. But as witnessed by the last four months, our tolerance is subjective and wearing very, very thin.

An interesting comment from Siddiqui's article:

Canadians want the products of indentured labor, but does not want those relatives and others with a voice, to protest the inhumane treatment that makes these products so cheap. The Tamil's are only the tip of the racist iceberg.

One reason why I like posting citizen comments is that, despite the fact that most of the time they are pretty offensive, they really shed a light as to what the public thinks - good or bad. On Facebook, one of my contacts annoyed the hell out of me when annoyed that the downtown core was clogged up, thereby inconveniencing her, referred to the protesters as "terrorists." She should have known better to first, think before she speaks / writes, and also not to put that crap on Facebook.

However, Canada is not the seventh ring of hell, either. Sometimes you need another perspective to realize that there are other countries that also have challenges with multiculturalism. Amanda from Building Bridges, who has traveled extensively, notes that when in Europe, she felt that there was more of a negative opinion surrounding new immigrants, which made her appreciate her adopted country of Canada.

Fatima at Run Like The Wind says that the recent demonstrations reflect the holes in Canada's multiculturalism policies:

In order for Canadian multiculturalism to accept any given group of people as a cultural community, it must define that group by differentiating it from a supposedly mainstream Canadian identity. This focalizing Canadian identity—in effect a non-identity—is white and middle-class. Thus, when the Toronto Star publishes an editorial entitled “Protesters vs. the public” [1] it effectively notes that the protesters are not part of the public by pitting (Tamil) protesters against the (Canadian) public. Rather than focusing on the war, media outlets have focused on the inconvenience posed to commuters, thereby shifting attention away from deaths in Sri Lanka to traffic regulations in Canada.

Blogger Joanne from Blue Like You (Blue for the Canadian Conservatives, that is) believes that the demonstrations are a sign that Canadians need to take a look at their immigration policies:

The problem as I see it, is when immigrants bring their own politically-charged homeland battles here. There is a fine line between freedom of speech vs. deciding when it negatively affects other citizens and may become a security threat.

While I vehemently disagree with Joanne, she raises an issue that does explain some of the consternation from Canadian citizens. Canada regards the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist group and that was one of the main issues for the demonstrators - to get the Federal Government to remove that ban, thereby making it easier for the government to send aid to the thousands of impoverished Tamil's who are being prosecuted by the Sri Lankan government.

While there is some back-and-forth as to the legitimacy of this, I think that Canadians, more annoyed because they could drive down University Avenue one day, did not carefully look at the issues at hand. Instead - as you can see from the comments on Joanne's blog - many just assumed that the protesters were 'violent terrorists.'