Controversy over Ontario Premier's meeting with fmr. WTM spokesman

25 January 2014 07:44 am Views - 3693

Canada’s Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne had met a former spokesman for the World Tamil Movement, a front organization for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a federally listed terrorist organization, while on a visit to a Toronto temple, Canadian media report said.

Quoting the premier’s office, the report stated that Mrs. Wynne stood alongside Nehru Gunaratnam, a former spokesman for the World Tamil Movement, on Jan. 14, and a photo of the event was posted on a photography company’s Facebook page.’

The two – along with city councillor Michelle Berardinetti and Liberal MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti – attended the event at the Kanthasamy Hindu Temple to celebrate Thai Pongal, a Tamil festival that celebrates the end of the harvest season.

“This is a temple where families and community comes together to celebrate this and many other occasions,” Zita Astravas, press secretary for the premier, said in a statement. “Premier Wynne meets many Ontarians in her public events.”

Ms. Berardinetti said she had been to the temple, which is located in her ward, several times before. She is currently working with its members on a planning application to build a new temple in its place.

“I don’t know who he is … It’s not fair for me to judge somebody” she said, stating that she only saw him speaking at the event. “It’s not like we get a list [that says] ‘These are all the people here and these are their biographies.’”

The WTM – which was formed in 1986 – is labeled as a “front organization” for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Canada.