Canadian Tamils favour autonomous state in Lanka

Canadian Tamils of Sri Lankan descent have voted almost unanimously in favour of creation of a separate state for the community in Sri Lanka, claimed a group that organised a "referendum" on the issue.

The Coalition for Tamil Elections in Canada said 99.8 percent of the 48,583 people who turned out to vote on Sunday supported an autonomous state for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

"The basic freedoms and rights that we have here in Canada are not being upheld in Sri Lanka," Darshika Selvasivam, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Tamil Elections Canada, which organised the vote, said.

The group also wants to draw attention to human rights violations by the Sri Lankan government against Tamils and the stifling of the media, Selvasivam said.

The latest vote occurred between 9 am and 9 pm local time on Sunday across Canada.

Most of the polling stations were in the Greater Toronto Area, where most Canadian Tamils of Sri Lankan descent are believed to be concentrated, Selvasivam said.

Ballots were also cast in Montreal, Ottawa, Cornwall, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Halifax, she said.

The voting process was managed and monitored by ES&S, a voting machine manufacturer, the coalition said.

Voters were registered before casting their ballots, following instructions from ES&S. Similar votes in Norway and France have also yielded overwhelming support for an independent Tamil state in Sri lanka, organisers said in a statement.

"I aspire for the formation of the independent and sovereign state of Tamil Eelam in the North and East territory of the Island of Sri Lanka on the basis that the Tamils in the Island of Sri Lanka make a distinct nation, have a traditional homeland and have the right to self-determination," said the statement.

The issue of Tamil autonomy has loomed large over much of Sri Lanka's recent history.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil rebel group, fought the Sinhalese government for an independent state. But the rebellion was crushed in May by the government.

"This will, they hope, give them a stronger political voice both on the world scene and also on the Canadian scene, in the sense that they can say to the government: 'This is what Tamil Canadians -- who are Canadian voters after all -- want,'" Arthur Sheps, a history professor at the University of Toronto, said.

Tamilnet.com, a pro-Tamil website, reported that Adam Giambrone -- a Toronto councillor who is considering running for the city's mayoralty next year -- gave the vote his blessing.

"As a government official in the city of Toronto, I think that is incredibly important to recognise the importance of democratic process, of the fact that close to 50,000 people from the country -- many of them right here in Toronto -- have got out, got informed and stood with the elections when they went out and voted in the free and fair elections," Tamilnet.com quoted Giambrone as saying.

A group of 29 Canadians plan on holding a vote in April to elect Tamil representatives to a de facto government-in-exile.

Estimates vary on the number of Sri Lankan Tamils living in Canada.

The 2006 census showed there are about 104,000 people of Sri Lankan descent -- including both Tamil and Sinhalese people -- living in the entire country.