The Tamil Community
Today’s Statement by Prime Minister Carney on Thai Pongal | Prime Minister of Canada caught my curiosity: Who are the Tamils?
Heritage and Values:
The Tamil ethnic group originates in southern India and Sri Lanka, and its history goes back thousands of years in time. Tamil is one of the world’s oldest classical languages, with a rich literature heritage that extends over 2,000 years. Notwithstanding this strong cultural heritage, the Tamil community values cultural and religious diversity, promoting acceptance and rejecting traditional barriers to advocate for unity and mutual respect. This open-mindedness reflects Canadian values, as Tamil Canadians support human rights and equality alongside all communities.1
I remember newspaper headlines many decades ago about Tamil Tigers that made them out as really bad people. Something about Sri Lanka. But in my research I found the above quote and today PM Carney said in part:
“Canada is home to one of the largest Tamil communities in the world. As Thai Pongal celebrations begin, we recognise the many contributions from Tamil Canadians that have helped build our country.
I extend my warmest wishes to all those celebrating Thai Pongal.”
I guess Tamils are good people now.
I need to know more, much more, and with Google at my beck and call these days I call up Tamil. I learn to my surprise that Tamil is a language—not an ethnicity, same as English is a language, not the knights around King Arthur’s Round Table.
English: King Arthur's knights, gathered at the Round Table to celebrate Pentecost, see a vision of the Holy Grail. The Grail appears as a veiled ciborium, made of gold and decorated with jewels, held by two angels. From BNF 112, a manuscript of the prose Lancelot attributed to Walter Map (Gaultier Moap) or Michel Gantelet (Holy-grail-round-table-ms-fr-112-3-f5r-1470-detail - Round Table - Wikipedia), approximately 1470
Expatriate Sri Lankan Tamil children in traditional clothes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Canadian Sri Lankan Tamil Children - Tamil diaspora - Wikipedia), approximately 2008.
That little boy is a darling. Tamil is a language originally spoken in India and Sri Lanka.
Tamil Tigers
In the 1970s, some Sri Lankans felt they were being discriminated against (like some Albertans today in Canada?), so they organized into something called Tamil New Tigers and waged guerilla warfare. From 1983 on there was civil war, finally crushed in 2009.2 This accounts for the headlines I used to see when I was young. It may also account for the Sri Lankan children of the above photo being in Canada and for the large Tamil community in our country.
Tamil Diaspora
Tamil Community in Canada
During the height of the civil war in Sri Lanka, between 1991 and 2001, large numbers of Canada’s immigrants came from Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka was the fifth largest source country of immigrants to Canada, after China, India, the Philippines, and Hong Kong.
Approximately 240,000 Tamils or 0.07% of Canada’s population (according to the 2021 Census) constitute one of the largest Tamil communities outside Asia, and most of these live in Toronto.
Tamil Canadian Contributions
CUPW [Canadian Union of Postal Workers] - 2024-12-17 - CUPW Celebrates Tamil Heritage Month - January 2025 gives me the impression that Tamil Canadians are very hardworking people who refuse to be defeated by massive difficulties. Some quotes:
Tamil Canadians have positively impacted Canada’s cultural, economic, social, and political landscape.
From accepting entry-level positions while simultaneously earning Canadian credentials, Tamil Canadians continue to advance and contribute across all sectors of society. [That’s doing three major things all at once:
going through all the red tape and legalities and language barriers of entering Canada and finding a home
finding work at an entry level job because Canada does not recognize academic degrees and professional licences from their country of origin
work for years to earn Canadian credentials even though you are a licenced doctor or other professional in your home country; many immigrants end up working for decades as taxi drivers.
they continue to support their homeland by significantly helping their peers who are struggling under the occupying Armed forces of Sri Lanka.
Education
Education remains a core value within the Tamil community, with parents often prioritizing the highest levels of education for their children, helping them pursue their dreams and ambitions.
I’m not sure what education goals are sought by the Tamil Canadian community. Canada's Top In-Demand Courses, a guide for Indian students wishing to study in Canada with an option for eventual residency, recommend the following as top fields of study: technology and AI, health sciences and especially nursing, business analytics and engineering. Early childhood education is also listed near the end, as well as culture and the arts, which tells me it’s not straight big-numbers business.
More About Tamil Canadians
Velupillai Prabhakaran - Wikipedia, founder and leader of Tamil New Tigers