White supremacists are catching the media spotlight, labelling Tamil refugees as terrorists on national television, say anti-racism and immigration activists.
The groups are criticizing media for voicing the comments of Paul Fromm, widely regarded as one of Canada’s most vocal white supremacists.
Fromm joined the Aryan Guard at a protest in front of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s constituency office in Calgary last weekend.
As the MV Sun Sea landed in Esquimalt on Aug. 11, Fromm organized a rally as the leader of the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee to denounce the arrival. In an earlier press release, he alleged that the boat had drugs and explosives on board.
“Paul Fromm, now fronting as the leader of the Canada First Committee, is a known neo-Nazi leader and one of Canada’s most notorious white supremacists,” says Maitland Cassia with Anti Racist Action-Vancouver.
“Fromm has spoken at Heritage Front (a disbanded neo-Nazi group) events, including a celebration of Hitler's birthday. He cannot be given an uncritical platform to spew his hate.”
The group said the prominent media coverage given to Fromm and his cohorts by the Toronto Star, Canadian Press, CTV, and CFAX 1070 barely mentioned Fromm’s neo-Nazi connections or his white supremacist background.
“Government officials and media outlets should all be aware about his extremist white supremacist links, and should report on them,” says Shane Calder of the Victoria Anti Racist Network.
“It should be absolutely unacceptable that well-known neo-Nazis and white supremacists are openly organizing rallies for the ship to be sent back. We should all be organizing counter-rallies in response to their hateful and oppressive views.”
While concerns have remained that the refugees could include terrorists from the Tamil Tigers, others are more concerned about the international failure to address the widespread abuses of the Sri Lankan authorities.
“The arrival of the 490 Tamil boat people seeking refuge in Canada is a symptom of the continued humanitarian suffering in Sri Lanka. It’s time for the government of Canada to rally international efforts to pressure the Sri Lankan government improve living conditions on the ground,” says a statement from the New Democratic Party.
NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar says Canada hasn’t paid enough attention to the plight of Tamils after the bloody civil war there.
“Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of displaced people continued to be targeted for brutal human rights violations in government-run camps in unhealthy and unsafe conditions and without access to international aid agencies,” Dewar says.
The NDP have urged the Conservative government to support efforts to rebuild the country, ensure the safety of civilians and spearhead international efforts to mediate a lasting political solution there. The conflict has its roots in policies that discriminated against Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority.
Dewar says such measures may have pre-empted the 490 migrants aboard the MV Sun Sea taking the drastic measure of boarding a boat for Canada.
