On Tuesday, the cabinet minister in charge of the push for border security under Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that he would withdraw himself from any files pertaining to a Sri Lankan terrorist organization and its Canadian front organization. The Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s office issued a statement to Global News on Tuesday stating that the minister had withdrawn from “any matter related to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or the World Tamil Movement.” The minister only stated that he had done so “out of an abundance of caution” in his explanation. He released the statement after Global News asked for a copy of a conflict of interest document he had prepared.
In contrast, he had “asked Public Safety Officials to implement a screen on any national security issues relating to the Tamil Community,” according to a statement from his office on Thursday. Anandasangaree and his family are members of the Tamil community, it said, and he had asked Public Safety officials to “implement a screen … to ensure that there is no perception of any conflict.”
Global News asked the minister’s office Tuesday why he had recused himself from files on the two terror groups and why he changed his description of the topics deemed off-limits, but he has not responded.
Anandasangaree was born in Sri Lanka, where he later became an activist, realtor, lawyer, and MP before moving to Canada in 1983. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, waged a 25-year civil war against the Sri Lankan government forces in an effort to create a separate state on the tiny island off the southern tip of India.
Public safety minister recuses himself from files on 2 terrorist groups
