Many immigrants come to Canada carrying with them the political baggage of their homeland.
The more active ones tend to drift towards Canadian-based organizations that strive to help their countrymen and their causes.
While making a new life for themselves and their families in Canada, contributions in cash and kind are remitted through a variety of channels for struggles in the country of origin.
Some of that money and support has been used to finance insurgencies, terror and brutal wars across the world.
Last week, in an aggressive new approach to fighting terror financing in Canada, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announced that his government has outlawed the World Tamil Movement, a Toronto-based non-profit organization with links to the Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting for a homeland in Sri Lanka since the early 70’s.
This is the first time our anti-terrorism laws are being used to shut down a Canadian community group for ties to terrorists.
The listing makes it illegal for Canadians, including those overseas, to give money to the Tamil group, which has its assets frozen.
"We’re sending a clear message to the entire Canadian population that we will not give support to that group," Day said at a splashy photo-op in Toronto’s harbour.
"Those terrorists are funded in part by dollars that have come from Canada, we want to put a stop to that," he said, based on intelligence reports that show the World Tamil Movement is behind a network of community extortionists who target Tamil Canadians to get money to finance the LTTE, the militant separatist group commonly known as the Tamil Tigers.
The World Tamil Movement has denied the allegations and said it would appeal to get off the list.
This latest listing is a first, and Canadian-based community groups that take up controversial causes in their homeland can expect increased overt and covert scrutiny of their affairs.
It is bound to cause consternation in new and growing immigrant communities who view contributions to their homeland as a struggle for rights and freedoms.
The South Asian community knows this well as groups like the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) and the Babbar Khalsa fighting for a separate homeland called Khalistan have been outlawed.
Similarly, the Filipino community in Canada also had its support for rebel community leader Jose Maria Sison questioned after the New People’s Army and its affiliates were branded as terror outfits.
The message from the government is clear: Don’t bring your wars to Canada.
For that, Day and the Harper government must be saluted.
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