✍️ Elbows up - Defending Gary Anandasangaree The story of @gary_srp, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, is impressive. He came to the country as a child just weeks after the Black July pogrom of 1983, where Sri Lankan state-backed mobs murdered thousands of Tamils just like him. He was a refugee fleeing a genocide and, like countless others, made Canada his home. From those beginnings, his rise to lawyer, community activist, parliamentarian, and ultimately the first ever Eelam Tamil-Canadian cabinet minister has been phenomenal. It is a journey that all Canadians, regardless of political affiliation, should take pride in. The recent attacks on Minister Anandasangaree by sections of the right-wing press however, have shown that not all Canadians are proud of this home-grown success story. No public politician should be immune from criticism and some critiques of the Liberal Party’s policies may indeed have validity. But that is not the case of this recent wave of attacks on Anandasangaree. Many of them have had little substance. Instead, they have been politically charged and come across highly vindictive. They are all the more shameful because of what they attempt to do: discredit a Tamil Canadian politician by invoking xenophobic tropes and stoke fear around the community as a whole. Read more ⬇️ tamilguardian.com/content/el…

✍️ Minister Anandasangaree deserves our praise, not derision "Minister Anandasangaree (@gary_srp) showed courage in advocating for the safety and dignity of his community," wrote @patrickbrownont for @iPoliticsCA. "That is not a scandal. That is leadership." Read more ⬇️ tamilguardian.com/content/mi…