Speaking at a Tamil Heritage Month event hosted at Parliament Hill on 31 January, Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada's official opposition echoed calls to impose "sanctions on all military and political leaders who were involved in the Tamil genocide" including members of the Rajapakse family.
"Canada has imposed some minor targeted sanctions but we must go further. We must impose Magnitsky sanctions on all military and political leaders who were involved in the genocide and who continue to carry it out and we must seek the prosecution of all those who participated in the war crimes at the international criminal court and the international court of justice and that includes those members of the Rajapakse family who themselves are responsible for this evil and we will continue to pressure the government to take those forceful actions in defense of human rights, accountability and justice for the Tamil people," said Canada Official Opposition & Leader of Conservative Party of Canada Hon.Pierre Poilievre.
To reiterate the Conservative party's commitment to securing post-war justice and accountabilty for Eelam Tamils, Poilievre referenced Canada's 2013 boycott of the Commonwealth hosted by Sri Lanka under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's administration.
"We moved against the regime there by imposing sanctions and by boycotting the presence of the Commonwealth in Colombo [...] that might have been the turning point when the rest of the world started to recognize the evil and the cruelty of the regime," he stated.
The call follows landmark sanctions by the Canadian government on two former Sri Lankan presidents, the Rajapaksa brothers, for their involvement in systemic human rights violations.
Read more here: Canada sanctions Rajapaksa brothers over human rights violations
Tamil Heritage Month events took place throughout January and included renewed calls for accountability and demands for justice for Eelam Tamils from political leaders across the West.
