REFUGEE

Tamil-Canadians protest on Parliament Hill in May 2009. Similar large protests took place in many European capitals and at the UN in New York following the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in a 23-year civil war against the Sri Lankan government. (Patrick Doyle/Canadian Press)

The Tamil organization that fought a bloody decades-long war with the Sri Lankan government said it is planning on holding a December referendum in Canada and around the world on the question of an independent Tamil state.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were defeated after a 23-year conflict with the Sri Lankan military in May but continue to operate internationally. In Canada, the federal government has listed the group as a terrorist organization since 2006.

Now their leaders are vowing to make their fight a political one, and say they are planning to hold a referendum on whether Tamils should declare independence from Sri Lanka.

The planned December vote could put political pressure on Sri Lanka to carve out a role for Tamil representation as the country prepares for parliamentary and presidential elections likely to be held in January.

Velupillai Thangavelu, one of 29 Tamil-Canadians in a separate group organizing another vote in April to elect representatives for a de facto Tamil government in exile, said Tamils must now use political means to achieve their goals.

"We have to accept the fact the entity has been defeated militarily," Thangavelu told CBC News. "So the other alternative is for us to take the same message. Struggle for the same goal in a democratic way."

Organizers are in negotiations to hire an outside firm to scrutinize and tally the votes in the electronic referendum, with polling stations planned for the greater Toronto area, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Halifax, said Thangavelu.

Security questions raised

Canadian intelligence and terrorism expert Tom Quiggan questions whether the vote will get that far, given the LTTE's listing as a terrorist group.

Men on the Ocean Lady, which was later seized off the coast of southern Vancouver Island, wave to a helicopter on Oct. 17, 2009. All but one of the men remains in custody. (RCMP)

"If the LTTE is seen to be holding elections in Canada, what is the Canadian government supposed to do about this? How do they react?" said Quiggan, a former security consultant with the RCMP.

"Do they allow a banned terrorist group to continue its fundraising and continue its organizational efforts here in Canada?"

The issue of allowing a vote is a sensitive one, particularly after the 2006 RCMP raid of the offices of another group, the World Tamil Movement, that authorities believed was connected to the LTTE.

The police agency alleged in an affidavit filed in 2008 that they had found evidence the group was using voter lists to profile potential donors for fundraising activities for the military arm of the group in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka to close refugee camps

The referendum plans also come as Canadian investigators attempt to determine the identity of a group of Sri Lankan migrants whose ship landed in British Columbia in October. All but one of the 76 men remains in custody after suspicions were raised that some may be affiliated with the Tamil Tigers.

A Tamil woman sits with her children next to their tent at the Manik Farm refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern Sri Lankan town of Vavuniya in May 2009. Sri Lanka's government announced on Nov. 22 the camps would be closing in January 2010.(David Gray/Reuters)

Human rights lawyer Lee Rankin has said the men have a good case for refugee status, since as members of the losing side in Sri Lanka's civil war they likely faced imprisonment if returned home.

On Sunday, the Sri Lankan government announced that the remaining 136,000 Tamil refugees who have been held in government camps would be free to return to their villages after Dec. 1, with the camps closing by Jan. 31.

The camps, which have operated since the war ended more than six months ago, have drawn international criticism for their squalid conditions, the slow pace at which detainees have been allowed to return to their homes. At their peak, some 300,000 war refugees were forced into the camps after fleeing the final months of the armed conflict with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.

United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes said on Monday the decision to allow detainees to return home was good news, but expressed concern that the UN was not being given enough advance notice to properly assist refugees in returning to their homes.

The UN also encouraged reconciliation efforts between Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority and for both sides to be held accountable for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during the conflict, said Holmes.

Another issue that must be resolved is the degree of autonomy given to Tamil areas in a new constitutional amendment, said Holmes, though he said that issue would probably not be addressed until after elections are held.