World Tamil Movement - Investigation

Investigation

Since 2006, The World Tamil Movement has been accused by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Government of Canada as being a front organization of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The group's Quebec and Ontario branches are currently under police investigation for allegedly raising money for Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels, which was proscribed in Canada in 2006 by the Conservative Government of Canada. In April 2006, five days after the federal government labeled the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a terrorist organization, police raided offices of the World Tamil Movement in Toronto and Scarborough, sealing the buildings and confiscating boxes of documents. The government and media outlets such as The National Post and CTV deemed the move coming in line with the United States and Britain who had previously designated the organisation as a terrorist organization.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) accuses the World Tamil Movement of collecting "war taxes" from Canada's large ethnic Tamil community and funnelling the cash to the Tamil Tigers guerrillas in Sri Lanka. During the raid on WTM offices in April 2006, RCMP officers claimed to have found "pledge forms, receipts, ledger books and lists of contributors." The RCMP claimed it had "obtained lists of Tamil Canadians and the amounts they had donated, as well as pre-authorized bank payment forms; – Lists of businesses that had made donations in multiples of $10,000; – Plastic collection jars with the WTM and Tamil Tigers logos side by side; – Computer disks that police said suggests money flows from Montreal to Toronto, then to other countries", with one RCMP Corporal describing what they stated they found as "significant evidence of terrorist financing."

Sergeant John MacDonald, the lead investigator and a member of the RCMP-led Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, claims that "The World Tamil Movement acts as the de facto taxation arm of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and … utilizes collectors to collect funds from Canadian Tamils on an organized and systematic basis." He further claimed he found "a manual on missile design, tributes to Tamil Tigers "martyrs," large numbers of documents pertaining to LTTE cadres, operatives and activities" and photos suggesting the WTM encourages Tamil Canadian children to "develop a cult-like devotion and obedience" to the leader of the Tamil Tigers."

In April 2008, Conservative MP Art Hanger tabled a petition in the House of Commons containing what he claimed were "the signatures of more than 1,000 Canadians of Sri Lankan origin." It urged the government to "ensure adequate surveillance and prosecution of the LTTE's front organizations and bogus charities."