Nonetheless, in June last year Ottawa listed the World Tamil Movement, formed in 1986 as a non-profit organisation, as a terrorist group for being the leading front for the Tamil Tigers in Canada.
Ottawa said it wanted to protect law-abiding, hardworking Canadians, especially Tamils, from the banned group s activities.
Mr Collacott applauded the decision as a way to staunch the flow of funds to the Tamil Tigers from Canada.
I don t think the
Sri Lankan
civil war could have continued as long as it did without support from Tamils in Canada that the Canadian government did not prevent, he said.
Still, for Mr Ponnambalam, the dominance of the Tamil Tigers in Canada has not been solved in spite of the government s actions.
The police, he said, do not get enough complaints from the Tamil community. We have been treated as second-class citizens in this country.