In Toronto's east end, Scarborough, what some call the 'real capital of Eelam', a few expatriate Sri Lankan Tamils continue to attach LTTE flags to their cars as others would a local ice-hockey team's pennant. The LTTE was listed as a terrorist organisation in Canada in 2006, but flying its flag is not considered a criminal offence. "There is a fundamental difference between expressing freedom of speech under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and participating in, facilitating or providing material support to a terrorist group," says Canada's Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister, Jason Kenny.
The last Tamil organisation in Canada to cross that line was the World Tamil Movement (WTM). Shortly after the 2006 designation by the Canadian government, the WTM was shut down for acting as an LTTE front. Tiger supporters made the news again in early 2007, this time for coercive fundraising in Toronto's Tamil community during local events, notably at a music concert, as documented by Human Rights Watch (HRW). And as the WTM has disappeared from public view, HRW communications associate Brian Griffey confirms that his organisation's members "haven't received any recent report of extortion in the diaspora."
If the LTTE was still canvassing for support in Toronto, it had since gone underground – its flags, still seen often enough around the city, no more politically poignant than a Che Guevara t-shirt. Until this spring, that is. During the last phase of war in Sri Lanka in May, Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) spokesman David Poopalapillai became the most outspoken Tamil leader in Canada, commenting on behalf of the diaspora to just about every newspaper and TV station about Tamil self-determination. He accused the Mahinda Rajapakse government in Sri Lanka of "genocide", as military forces closed in on the last Tiger holdouts in Mullaitivu, where many civilians were caught in the crossfire.
'Genocide' was also on the lips of thousands when, according to the CTC, over ten youth groups of mostly Canadian-born Tamils merged and initiated the event that was eventually to spur Torontonians to re-examine the social boundaries of one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Toronto's Gardiner Expressway is the lakeside artery that pumps rush-hour traffic from the city's heart to its suburban capillaries. But on 10 May, it was not cars that caused jams, but thousands of protesters attempting to drive home the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils then trapped in the Sri Lankan northeast corner. What the news helicopters over the expressway witnessed was a sea of red flags – the fire engine red ensign of the LTTE held by many cross-stem with that of the Canadian Maple Leaf.