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Discourses of Fear and Victimization: the Impact of National Security Legislation on the Tamil- Canadian Community

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Discourses of Fear and Victimization: the Impact of National Security Legislation on the Tamil- Canadian Community Discourses of Fear and Victimization: The Impact of National Security Legislation on the Tamil Canadian Community Presented by Harini Sivalingam Faculty of Law, Institute of Comparative Law McGill University, Montreal August 2008 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Law (LL.M.) ©Copyright Harini Sivalingam 2008 All rights reserved. Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edifion 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-53612-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-53612-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduce, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plnternet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Prof. Evan Fox-Decent for his guidance and advice in helping me develop and articulate more clearly the ideas expressed in my work. I must also thank all of my colleagues, professors and the staff at McGill University for providing me with an enriching learning experience during my graduate studies at McGill. On a personal note, I would also like to thank my parents, for their support and encouragement throughout my pursuit of higher education. I would like to express my deepest and most sincere gratitude to my husband, Gary, for putting up with me over the last two years as I pursued my graduate studies in Montreal and for his constant support and encouragement. I would also like to thank all of my family and friends for their support and encouragement, and challenging me to do my best and see who I really am. In particular, I would like to thank my mother-in-law who kept me focused on completing my thesis by constantly asking me how my thesis was progressing. I must also acknowledge my nephew and niece, Gana and Priya, for providing me with a constant source of amazement and inspiration in my life. This paper would be nowhere close to being readable without the kind and efficient editing of my good friend Shanthi Senthe. Thank you, Shanthi, for your time, effort and your incredible suggestions to make this work better. Finally, I would like to thank members of the Tamil Canadian community who were interviewed and participated in my survey for sharing their personal experiences and providing much needed context to the issues presented in this thesis. II TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF TABLES v LIST OF FIGURES vi ABSTRACT vii ABREGE viii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: DISCOURSES OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND TERRORISM 5 A. Overview of National Security Measures in Canada 5 /'. What is National Security? 5 //'. Threats to National Security - The Discourse of Terrorism 6 /'/'/'. Analyzing National Security Legislation 8 iv. The Anti-Terrorism Act 10 v. The Canadian definition of Terrorism 11 vi. Listing Terrorist Entities: 13 vii. Criticisms of the Listing Process 16 viii. Listing of the LTTE and the World Tamil Movement 19 B. Overview of Tamils in Canada and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) .21 /'. The Tamil-Canadian Diaspora 21 /'/'. The LTTE and the Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka 22 C. National Security/Human Rights Discourse 23 /'. Security in Freedom and Freedom of Security.. 23 //'. The False Dichotomy of Human Rights and Security 24 CHAPTER 2: DISCOURSES OF FEAR, SECURITY AND TERRORISM 27 A. Defining Threats... 29 /. Definitions of Terrorism 29 //'. Domestic and International Definitions of Terrorism...: 30 B. The Psychology of Fear 32 /'. Fear of Terrorism as a "Moral Panic" 33 /'/'. Application of Moral Panics to Terrorism .. 35 C. Fear and "Errorism" 37 /'. Manufacturing fear: the misinformation age 37 /'/'. Case Study: The National Post Targeting of the Tamil Community. 38 D. Policing Fear 41 i. Policing National Security 41 iii //'. Resource Allocation 44 E. The Politics of Fear 46 /. Eradicating or Managing Fear: 48 /'/'. National Security and Diasporas 53 A. Victimization and Fear - "The Cult of True Victimhood" 57 /'. Defining Victim 57 //'. Anti-Victimization Backlash 58 ///'. Victimization and Terrorism: The Nation as Victim 60 B. Victimization and the Savage-Victim-Savior Metaphor..... 61 /'. The Savage 62 ii. The Victim 63 ///'. The Savior 65 iv. Case Study: Human Rights Watch Report on LTTE Fundraising in the Tamil Diaspora 66 C. Victimization and Human Rights: The Impact of National Security Discourse on the Tamil-Canadian Community in Toronto 67 /'. Methodology: 68 //'. Views on National Security 71 //'/'. Perceptions and Experiences of Discrimination 71 iv. Case Study: Targeting Tamil Students Associations 78 CHAPTER 4: DISCOURSES OF AGENCY AND HUMAN RIGHTS 83 A. Breaking the Cycle of Fear and Victimization 83 /'. Definition of Agency 83 /'/'. Agency in the Security Discourse 86 /'//. Tamil-Canadian community's perceptions of agency 87 iv. Advocacy in the Tamil-Canadian Community 88 v. Case Study: Community Use of Public Spaces 97 B. Political Advocacy or Legal Advocacy? 100 /'. National Security in the Courts 101 /'/'. Political Advocacy in the Tamil Canadian community 105 /'/'/'. The FACT Dinner... 105 iv. National Post Coverage of Tamils at the Liberal Convention 107 v. Tamil Political Involvement , 108 CONCLUSION.. 111 LIST OF REFERENCES 114 LEGISLATION..... 114 APPENDIX A.. 120 APPENDIX B 121 IV LIST OF TABLES Table 1: International and Domestic Definitions of Terrorism - Fear 32 Table 2: Stages of Moral Panic, Terrorism and Actors 36 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 - The Interconnectedness of Security, Human Rights and Development 25 Figure 2: The Cycle of Fear and Victimization 28 Figure 3: Places of Personal Experiences of Discrimination 73 Figure 4: Perceptions of Discrimination by Age 77 Figure 5: Breaking the Cycle of Fear and Victimization - Agency 86 VI ABSTRACT National security discourses have a significant impact on migrant, refugee and immigrant communities. This thesis will address the impact that national security legislations have on vulnerable ethnic communities using the Tamil community in Canada as a case study. In highlighting concerns about rashly buying into the dominant discourses of terrorism and security, critical insights into how laws and policies impact community groups and society as a whole will be raised by exploring the discourses of fear and victimization. In particular, two important questions will be addressed. Firstly, how does the dominant discourse on fear of terrorism in national security legislation impact on the victimization of community groups, such as Tamil-Canadians? And secondly, what methods should be employed by communities so that the cycle of fear and victimization can be broken to enable the community to act with agency and resist these dominant discourses? VII ABREGE Les discours presenter par la Securite nationale ont un impact signifiant sur les itinerants, les communautes de refugie, et immigres. Cet expose adressera I'impact que les legislations de la securite nationales ont sur la vulnerability dans les communautes ethniques, utilisant la communaute Tamoule au Canada comme une etude de cas. En soulignant les inquietudes concernant imprudemment accepter les discours dominants de terrorisme et de securite, un apergu critiques dans comment les lois et les politiques influent les groupes de communaute et la societe comme un ensemble sera eleve en explorant les discours de crainte et de persecution. En particulier, deux questions importantes seront adressees. Premierement, comment le discours dominant sur la crainte de terrorisme dans la legislation de securite nationale influe-t-il sur la persecution de groupes de communaute, comme Tamoul-Canadiens? Et deuxiemement, quelles methodes devraient-ils etre employes par les communautes pour que le cycle de crainte et de persecution puisse etre casse pour permettre a la communaute d'agir avec I'agence et s'opposer a ces discours dominants? viii INTRODUCTION While the discourses surrounding
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