Sri Lankan MP Namal Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, himself accused of overseeing war crimes has called for immediate diplomatic action against Canada following the unveiling of a Tamil Genocide Monument in Brampton, Ontario.
In a fiery statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), Rajapaksa slammed the Canadian government, accusing it of being manipulated by Tamil diaspora factions and warned that the monument was nothing more than a politically engineered weapon designed to “distort history and promote a false genocide narrative.”
“It is deeply concerning that Canada has gone ahead with inaugurating a Tamil Genocide Memorial,” Rajapaksa stated. “Under international law, no genocide has ever been proven against the Sri Lankan military during the conflict with LTTE terrorists. This monument undermines reconciliation and falsely paints Sri Lanka as a genocidal state.”
He urged the Sri Lankan government to immediately summon the Canadian High Commissioner in Colombo to issue a formal protest, warning that failure to act would be “a betrayal of the armed forces, national sovereignty, and the people of Sri Lanka.”
Rajapaksa’s comments come in the wake of a massive gathering on May 10 at Chinguacousy Park in Brampton, where the Tamil Genocide Monument was unveiled. The permanent memorial, funded and supported by the Tamil diaspora, commemorates decades of violence and state-sponsored oppression against the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.
The monument features a striking book-shaped design, symbolising the Tamil people’s collective memory and educational mission, and includes a map of Tamil Eelam. Nine engraved panels detail the systematic persecution of Tamils across the North and East of the island since 1948 a narrative that directly challenges the version of history upheld by the Sri Lankan state.
Though successive Sri Lankan governments have denied genocide allegations, a growing number of international human rights organisations, UN experts, and Tamil advocacy groups have documented alleged atrocities committed by Sri Lankan forces particularly during the final months of the civil war in 2009.
These include the deliberate shelling of civilian safe zones, bombing of hospitals and food supply routes, mass sexual violence, and the forced disappearance of over 160,000 Tamils in the Vanni region. Satellite images, witness testimonies, and leaked military reports have all added to the growing body of evidence fueling the genocide accusations.
Canada, home to one of the largest Tamil diaspora populations in the world, has increasingly supported Tamil memorialisation efforts and human rights inquiries, much to Colombo’s ire. Rajapaksa’s latest outburst signals a renewed diplomatic rift and a deeper global spotlight on Sri Lanka’s wartime legacy.
As pressure mounts on the Sri Lankan government to respond, the monument’s unveiling has ignited a new front in the battle over history, memory, and justice one that is now playing out on the world stage.
