SHAWN McCARTHY

Thursday, February 22, 2001
Globe & Mail

OTTAWA -- Federal lawyers have identified a Canadian Tamil group as a front for terrorists, raising new questions about a decision by Finance Minister Paul Martin and International Co-operation Minister Maria Minna to attend a dinner organized by the group.

Canadian Alliance MPs have repeatedly criticized Mr. Martin and Ms. Minna for attending a dinner that they allege was a fundraiser for Tamil terrorists. The Liberal government has repeatedly insisted it does not identify any particular group as a front for terrorists.

However, federal lawyers filed a factum this month to the Supreme Court of Canada in a deportation case that alleges the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam is a "terrorist organization" and that the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils is one of several "political and benevolent front organizations which support the LTTE [Tigers]."
The Justice Department lawyers said the Tamil Tigers engage in torture, mistreatment of prisoners, summary executions, ethnic cleansing of Muslims, kidnapping and forcible conscription of children.

The group "raises money by relying upon the willing or unwilling expatriate communities abroad, such as the large number of Tamil refugees in Canada," the federal lawyers said.

Mr. Martin was the guest of honour at a Toronto dinner on May 6, 2000, celebrating the Tamil new year, which was organized by the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils. Ms. Minna also attended the dinner.

In the House of Commons yesterday, Canadian Alliance MP Monte Solberg criticized the Liberal ministers and demanded explanations from Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan.

"Will the Immigration Minister confirm that FACT is indeed a terrorist front and that her cabinet colleagues should not be out raising money for them," Mr. Solberg said.

The Alliance yesterday released copies of the factum in which federal lawyers argue that the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils is a front for the Tigers. The lawyers presented their argument during the appeal of a deportation order of a man for being a member of the World Tamil Movement, another group named as a front for the Tamil Tigers.

Ms. Caplan refused to answer Mr. Solberg's question, saying the matter is before the courts.

After Question Period, Mr. Martin and Ms. Minna rose with indignation to demand an apology from Mr. Solberg for suggesting the two Liberal ministers support terrorists.

"It is alleged that we support terrorism and fundraising activities for terrorism. That is clearly not the fact," Mr. Martin said. "It not only besmirches us, but it besmirches the entire Tamil community."

Ms. Minna added: "We attended a community event that was made up of respectable Canadian citizens. I did not attend or have dinner with a group of terrorists."

Mr. Solberg said he was not alleging that the minister had knowingly supported terrorists but that they should have known the organizers of the dinner were considered a front group for the Tamil Tigers and avoided the dinner.

"They should renounce the group that they unknowingly supported," he said.

Scott Reid, a spokesman for Mr. Martin, said the minister's office checked with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade before he attended the dinner.

"We were informed at the time that FACT is an umbrella organization which DFAIT does, on occasion, reach out to when it wants to engage the Tamil community."

Mr. Reid also said the dinner was a New Year's celebration, not a fundraiser.