Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejects the false allegation of a so-called “genocide” in Sri Lanka in a message by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on 18 May 2024.

The Government of Sri Lanka in all previous communications has categorically refuted such outrageous allegation of genocide in Sri Lanka. No competent authority in Canada or elsewhere in the world has made any objective determination of genocide having taken place in Sri Lanka.

These unfounded allegations relate to the conclusion of the armed separatist terrorist conflict waged by the LTTE in pursuit of a separate state, contrary to the principles of the UN Charter.  The LTTE is a listed terrorist organization in 33 countries worldwide, including in Canada.

Prime Minister Trudeau’s endorsement of this false narrative of genocide in Sri Lanka is highly disruptive of communal harmony among the Canadians of Sri Lankan origin, a valuable community of Sri Lankan heritage living overseas. Many of these peace-loving citizens have constructively engaged with Sri Lanka and we welcome their support.

Civilians from all communities – Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors, Malays, and Burghers - were affected by the conflict in Sri Lanka. In fact, it was the majority Tamil civilians of the North and the East who were disproportionately affected by the daily repression of the LTTE. All communities suffered in brutal terrorist acts of the LTTE. A partisan narrative ignores the complex reality of the Sri Lankan conflict and as such these comments by Prime Minister Trudeau resonates adversely among Sri Lankans and disrupts the Sri Lankan government’s ongoing efforts towards national unity, reconciliation and progress in Sri Lanka.

Canada’s falsification of our history amounts to irresponsible disinformation. It misleads the minds of current and future generations in Canada and elsewhere, encouraging and perpetuating hatred. It empowers extremism on all sides in all parts of the world where such messages are easily and instantaneously transmitted including through social media.

We therefore urge the Canadian Government to assume responsibility in a spirit of mutual respect in promoting peace and harmony.

On a related but separate front, Canada’s disproportionate focus on Sri Lanka is a clear example of double standards.  While Canada has opted to support a false narrative regarding the conflict in Sri Lanka, it has remained intentionally ambiguous relating to the daily dire humanitarian situations we see elsewhere. It is crucial that countries like Canada, who claim to be global advocates of human rights, recognize their self-interested double standards which are resulting in increased polarization in the international community.

Clearly, the repeated statements by the Prime Minister of Canada with regard to Sri Lanka are the outcome of electoral vote bank politics in Canada, funded by a small number of Canadians of Sri Lankan origin with vested and personal interest.

We categorically reject the allegation of genocide – in fact, throughout the conflict, humanitarian supplies including food and medicines were regularly and systematically delivered to affected areas by the Government in collaboration with local NGOs and international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN agencies. Food and medicine were provided via land and sea routes to civilians trapped in the conflict and used as human shields by the LTTE. Wounded were evacuated with the assistance of the ICRC, irrespective of whether they were LTTE cadres. Humanitarian needs were regularly evaluated and despatched. Additionally, throughout the conflict, the Government ensured the continuity of civilian administration in the affected areas by addressing the needs for housing, schools, hospitals, roads, and other infrastructure, enabling the continuity of civilian life and livelihoods. Local administration in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces was financed and run by the civil servants of the Government of Sri Lanka.

In contrast, the LTTE has indiscriminately targeted civilians of all communities in all parts of the country, engaged in ethnically ‘cleansing’ the areas in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces controlled by the force of their trafficked and smuggled arms. The LTTE has targeted and assassinated the moderate Tamil leadership of the country including the former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

Since the end of the conflict many steps have been taken by the Government of Sri Lanka towards reconciliation, unity and achieving durable peace and security despite the present economic hardships. The Government is determined to continue these measures.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Colombo

21 May 2024

PRESS RELEASE

The Consular Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be relocated to the new premises at the 16^th floor of “Suhurupaya”, Sri Subhuthipura Road, Battaramulla with effect from 02 May 2024. All consular services will be provided to the public at the new office premises during regular office hours from Monday to Friday, 8.30 am to 4.15 pm.

Document authentication services provided by the Consular Affairs Division in Colombo will be temporarily suspended for the public on 29 and 30 April 2024 in order to facilitate the transition of the Electronic Document Authentication System (e-DAS) to the new premises at Suhurupaya.

However, during the said transition period, the Regional Consular Offices in Jaffna, Trincomalee, Kurunegala, Kandy and Matara will remain open to the public during regular office hours. Applications for document authentication can be submitted to the Regional Offices as usual and the authenticated documents will be delivered to the applicants only on Thursday, 02 May 2024.

The public is also hereby advised to submit any urgent application for authentication to the Consular Division in Colombo, or any Regional Consular Offices by 4.15 pm on 26 April 2024, with a view to avoiding any inconvenience.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Colombo

23 April 2024

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මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය

විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය සිය ප්‍රදූත (කොන්සියුලර්) අංශය බත්තරමුල්ල "සුහුරුපායේ" පිහිටි නව පරිශ්‍රය  වෙත රැගෙන යයි

විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ප්‍රදූත (කොන්සියුලර්) අංශය, 2024 මැයි මස 02 වැනි දින සිට ක්‍රියාත්මක වන පරිදි බත්තරමුල්ල, ශ්‍රී සුභූතිපුර පාරේ පිහිටි "සුහුරුපායේ" 16 වැනි මහලෙහි ඇති නව කාර්යාල පරිශ්‍රය වෙත රැගෙන යනු ලැබේ. මින් ඉදිරියට, සඳුදා සිට සිකුරාදා තෙක් පෙ.ව. 8.30 සිට ප.ව. 4.15 දක්වා සාමාන්‍ය කාර්යාල වේලාව තුළ මෙම නව කාර්යාල පරිශ්‍රයේ සිට මහජනතාවට කොන්සියුලර් සේවාවන් සැපයෙනු ඇත.

සුහුරුපායේ පිහිටි නව කාර්යාල පරිශ්‍රය වෙත ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික ලේඛන සත්‍යාපන පද්ධතිය (e-DAS) මාරු කිරීමේ කටයුතුවලට පහසුකම් සලසනු පිණිස  2024 අප්‍රේල් මස 29 සහ 30 යන දෙදින තුළ, ප්‍රදූත අංශයෙන් මහජනතාවට සැපයෙන සත්‍යාපන සේවා තාවකාලිකව අත්හිටවනු ලැබේ.

කෙසේවුවද, ඉහත කී  සංක්‍රාන්ති කාලය ඇතුළත යාපනය, ත්‍රිකුණාමලය, කුරුණෑගල, මහනුවර සහ මාතර යන නගරවල පිහිටි ප්‍රාදේශීය ප්‍රදූත කාර්යාල සාමාන්‍ය කාර්යාල වේලාවන්හි මහජනතාවට විවෘතව පවතියි. ලේඛන සත්‍යාපනය සඳහා වූ අයැදුම්පත් සාමාන්‍ය පරිදි මෙම ප්‍රාදේශීය කාර්යාල වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කළ හැකි අතර සත්‍යාපනය කරනු ලැබූ ලේඛන යළි අයැදුම්කරුවන්/කාරියන් වෙත ලබා දෙනුයේ 2024 මැයි 02 වැනි බ්‍රහස්පතින්දා දින පමණි.

සිදුවිය හැකි කිසියම් අපහසුතාවන් මඟහරවා ගැනීම සඳහා, සත්‍යාපනය කිරීම පිණිස යම් හදිසි ලේඛන ඇතොත් ඒවා 2024 අප්‍රේල් මස 26 වැනි දින ප.ව. 4.15 ට පෙර කොළඹ පිහිටි ප්‍රදූත අංශයට හෝ ඕනෑම ප්‍රාදේශීය ප්‍රදූත කාර්යාලයකට හෝ භාරදෙන ලෙසද මහජනතාවට මෙයින් දැනුම් දෙනු ලැබේ.

විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය

කොළඹ

2024 අප්‍රේල් 23 වැනිදා

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ஊடக வெளியீடு

வெளிநாட்டு அலுவல்கள் அமைச்சின் கொன்சியுலர் பிரிவு, பத்தரமுல்லயிலுள்ள ‘சுஹுருபாய’ இலுள்ள புதிய அலுவலக இடத்திற்கு மாற்றம்

வெளிநாட்டு அலுவல்கள் அமைச்சின் கொன்சியுலர் பிரிவானது, வரும் 2024 மே 2 ஆம் திகதி முதல் நடைமுறைக்கு வரும்படியாக, பத்தரமுல்ல, ஸ்ரீ சுபுத்திபுர வீதியிலுள்ள, ‘சுஹுருபாய’ இன் 16 ஆம் தளத்திலுள்ள புதிய இடத்திற்கு இடமாற்றம் செய்யப்படுகிறது.  அன்றைய தினத்திலிருந்து, புதிய அலுவலக இடத்தில், வழமையான அலுவலக நேரங்களான திங்கள் முதல் வெள்ளி வரை, காலை 8.30 முதல் மாலை 4.15 வரை சகல கொன்சியுலர் சேவைகளும் பொதுமக்களுக்கு வழங்கப்படும்.

‘சுஹுருபாய’ இலுள்ள புதிய கொன்சியுலர் அலுவலகத்தில், மின்னியல் ஆவண அத்தாட்சிப்படுத்தல் முறைமையை (e-DAS) மாற்றம் செய்வதற்கு வசதியேற்படுத்திக் கொடுப்பதற்காக, கொழும்பிலுள்ள கொன்சியுலர் பிரிவினால் பொதுமக்களுக்கு வழங்கப்பட்டு வரும் ஆவண அத்தாட்சிப்படுத்தல் சேவைகள், 2024 ஏப்ரல் 29 மற்றும் 30 ஆம் திகதிகளில் தற்காலிகமாக இடைநிறுத்தப்படும்.

ஆனபோதிலும், இவ்வாறு மின்னியல் முறைமை (e-DAS) மாற்றம் செய்யப்படும் காலத்தில், யாழ்ப்பாணம், திருகோணமலை, குருநாகல், கண்டி மற்றும்  மாத்தறை ஆகிய இடங்களிலுள்ள பிராந்திய கொன்சியுலர் சேவைகள் அலுவலக நேரங்களில் வழைமைபோல இயங்கும். பிராந்திய கொன்சியுலர் அலுவலகங்களில் பொதுமக்கள் தமது அத்தாட்சிப்படுத்துவதற்கான ஆவணங்களை வழமைபோல சமர்ப்பிக்கலாம் என்பதுடன், அத்தாட்சிப்படுத்தப்பட்ட ஆவணங்கள், 2024 வியாழக்கிழமை, மே, 2 ஆம் திகதி மட்டுமே விண்ணப்பதாரிகளுக்கு வழங்கப்படும்.

எந்தவொரு வசதியீனங்களையும் தவிர்ப்பதற்காக, பொதுமக்கள் அவசரமாக அத்தாட்சிப்படுத்தப்படவேண்டிய தமது விண்ணப்பங்களை, கொழும்பிலுள்ள கொன்சியுலர் அலுவலகத்திலோ அல்லது எந்தவொரு பிராந்திய அலுவலகத்திலோ, 2024, ஏப்ரல் 26 ஆம் திகதி மாலை 4.15 இற்கு முன்னதாக சமர்ப்பிக்குமாறு அறிவுறுத்தப்படுகிறது.

வெளிநாட்டு அலுவல்கள் அமைச்சு

கொழும்பு

2024 ஏப்ரல் 23

High Commissioner Harsha Kumara Navaratne ceremoniously handed over the Commission of Appointment of Honorary Consul for the province of Manitoba to Mohamed Ismath, on 25^th March 2024, at the office of the High Commission in Ottawa.

Honorary Consul Ismath is currently a Board of Director  of Tennis Canada. Tennis Canada is a non- profit national sports association with a mission to lead the growth of tennis in Canada. He is a retired accountant and is an old boy of Royal College, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Taking into account Mr Ismath’s background, the High Commissioner explored possibilities of promoting tourism through sports collaboration apart from routine consular assistance and   highlighted the importance of obtaining training opportunities for Sri Lankan tennis players in Canada. The High Commissioner also emphasized the need to establish Business Councils in each Canadian Province to facilitate trade and tourism between the two countries.

The  Honorary Consul  informed that there are  over 5000 Sri Lankans  living in Manitoba  and  this also  includes a  vibrant seniors group already engaged  in promoting Sri Lanka as a tourist  destination.  He  informed  that  he will be  working  closely  with all  associations  and    look forward  to network  with  Sri Lankan  Honorary  Consuls in other  provinces  to   synergize  the  efforts  of  the High Commission in  going forward.  Deputy High Commissioner Anzul Jhan and Minister Counsellor Lashinka Dammullage were part of the discussions   with the Honorary Consul.

The office of the Honorary Consul is based in 234 Portsmouth Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3P 2E3, Canada and he could be reached on +1-(204) 227-4531 or  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sri Lanka High Commission

Ottawa

2^nd April 2024