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Sunday Island Aug. 24
Canada denies entry to L.T.T.E. activist

      By D. B. S. Jeyaraj in Toronto

      A well-known activist of the Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam
suspected of being on a money raising mission for the Tigers was denied
entry into Canada. The 36 year old person, a Norwegian Tamil citizen of
Sri Lankan origin, was refused entry into Canada by Immigration
authorities when he landed in a flight from New Zealand at the Lester B.
Pearson Airport at Toronto on August 12th.

      After being detained at the Canadian Immigration Detention Centre
for a week the man left for Norway on the 19th without facing a formal
deportation hearing scheduled for the 22nd of this month.

      Edmund Hillary Leo, a Tamil Catholic was born in 1961. He was
named after the famous mountaineer of New Zealand Sir Edmund Hillary who
was the first man to climb Mt. Everest on May 29th 1953. E. H. Leo left
for Norway with his family at the age of twenty in 1981. He is now a
naturalised citizen of Norway and is a full-time worker at the printing
plant of a Norwegian newspaper. He also works as a volunteer activist of
the LTTE in Norway.

      Leo left for New Zealand some weeks ago from Europe. There he was
actively involved in a fund raising drive for the LTTE. He reportedly
met several Tamil professionals in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland
in New Zealand and successfully solicited donations for the Tigers.

      After the successful New Zealand trip Leo came to Toronto in
Canada by air. There is no Canadian visa requirement for Norwegian
citizens. Canadian immigration authorities, alerted earlier by a
security intelligence report, detained Leo at the Toronto Lester B.
Pearson airport and refused him entry into the country on the grounds
that he was of a class of persons regarded as inadmissible to Canada.

      E. H. Leo was denied entry on the basis of sub-clauses E,F, and G
of Section 19 clause 1 of the Canadian Immigration Act. The relevant
clauses read as follows � No person shall be granted admission who is a
member of any of the following classes:

      (A) Persons against whom there are reasonable grounds to believe.

      (i) will engage in acts of espionage or subversion against
democratic governments, institutions or processes as they are understood
in Canada.

      (ii) will, while in Canada, engage in or instigate the subversion
by force of any government,

      (iii) will engage in terrorism, or

      (iv) are members of an organization that there are reasonable
grounds to believe will.

      (A) engage in acts of espionage or subversion against democratic
governments, institutions or processes, as they are understood in
Canada,

      (B) engage in or instigate the subversion by force of any
government or,

      (C) engage in terrorism;

      Sec 19 1 (f) persons who there are reasonable grounds to believe

      (i) have engaged in acts of espionage or subversion against
democratic governments, institutions of processes, as they are
understood in Canada,

      (ii) have engaged in terrorism, or

      (iii) are or were members of an organization that there are
reasonable grounds to believe is or was engaged in

      (A) acts of espionage or subversion against democratic
governments, institutions or processes as they are understood in Canada,
or

      (B) terrorism.

      Sec 19 1 (g) persons who there are reasonable grounds to believe
will engage in acts of violence that would or might endanger the lives
or safety of persons in Canada or are members of or are likely to
participate in the unlawful activities of an organization that is likely
to engage in such acts of violence.

      Acting on the strength of the above mentioned provisions
immigration authorities accosted Leo at the airport and took him in for
further questioning. After taking possession of further documentary
particulars the authorities formally denied him entry into Canada on the
basis that he was a member of a terrorist organization namely the LTTE.

      This left Mr. Leo with two options. He could leave Canada
voluntarily on the next available plane or he could refuse and be
detained pending a formal deportation hearing before an immigration
adjudicator. The hearing would either clear him or expedite his
deportation. Leo opted to be detained and await a deportation hearing
stating that he was not an LTTE member and that his visit to Canada was
to visit relatives and friends.

      Edmund Hillary Leo was then detained at the Canadian Immigration
Detention Centre at the celebrity inn on 6355 Airport Road, Toronto.
After a preliminary hearing on the 15th the full hearing was scheduled
for the 22nd. Canadian immigration law stipulates that the preliminary
hearing should be conducted within 72 hours and the full hearing within
a week of that.

      Interestingly no member of the World Tamil Movement in Canada was
at the airport to receive Leo although a van used by the movement was
parked at the airport premises at the time. The W.T.M. is the branch cum
front organization of the LTTE in Canada.

      In the meantime many people claiming to be relatives and friends
of Mr. Leo appealed to the immigration authorities saying that he was on
a private visit and not on an LTTE sponsored fund raising mission. They
were told that the deportation hearing before an adjudicator would
determine the purpose of his visit. Canadian security and law
enforcement authorities also began to compile a dossier of Mr. Leo's
background for presentation at the hearing.

      Leo then changed his mind on the 18th and informed the authorities
that he would leave Canada voluntarily. Although the Canadian
authorities could have insisted upon him facing the deportation hearing,
they consented to  his leaving. Leo left on the next day 19th for
Norway.

      In 1995 Canada refused Lawrence Thilagar, the international
spokesman of the LTTE, a Canadian visa on the grounds that he was a
member of an LTTE organization.

      In October 1995 Suresh Manickavasakam, chief of the LTTE branch
World Tamil Movement in Canada, was arrested under a national security
certificate issued under sec 40 (1) of the Immigration Act. He is still
under detention in Toronto.

      Three weeks ago Canadian law enforcement officials began a massive
ongoing probe into the money raising activities of the LTTE in Toronto.