Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Monday he was only doing his duty as an MP when he wrote letters supporting an alleged terrorist group member’s immigration application.
Responding to reporters’ questions about the matter for the first time, Anandasangaree downplayed his involvement in the national security case as the routine work of a Member of Parliament.
“One of the major responsibilities of any Member of Parliament, anyone elected, is provision of services to individuals seeking help from our offices,” he told reporters at a media event in Toronto.
“So this is part and parcel of the work that every Member of Parliament does, and in this particular case, I was executing my duties as a Member of Parliament, one that I believe constituents expect me to do.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney appointed Anandasangaree minister of public safety in May, putting him in charge of Canada’s national security defences, including the Canada Border Services Agency.
But questions were raised last month when Anandasangaree recused himself from decisions related to the Tamil Tigers and its Canadian front group, the World Tamil Movement.
Then last week, Global News reported that before joining cabinet, Anandasangaree asked CBSA officials to approve the permanent residence application of a man they had deemed a Tamil Tigers member.
The Tamil Tigers, or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, fought a lengthy failed independence war in Sri Lanka and have been on Canada’s list of designated terrorist entities since 2006.
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Although the CBSA had rejected the man as an immigrant on the grounds that he was a former member of a listed terrorist group, Anandasangaree asked officials to reverse their decision.
An activist and lawyer before becoming a Toronto-area Liberal MP in 2015, Anandasangaree said his letters were “in the context of an individual, Canadian citizen, who is seeking to reunite with her husband.”
“In this particular case, like all cases, there is advocacy involved and part of that involves letters of support and that’s exactly what was done in this case,” he told reporters on Monday.
He said his riding office had handled “over 9,500 cases” ranging from immigration applications to “issues around Canada Revenue Agency, old age security, disability benefits and so on.”
When a reporter pointed out that the case involved national security, and he is now the public safety minister, Anandasangaree said MPs were permitted to advocate for would-be immigrants.
But he said doing so “would be inappropriate” in his current role. “I have instructed my office not to issue support letters of that nature because ultimately the decision will be coming to me as an individual.”
His last support letter for the person was sent just days before Anandasangaree joined cabinet in 2023. It concerned Senthuran Selvakumaran, a Sri Lankan citizen who has been trying to immigrate since 2005.
Canadian border security officials have repeatedly rejected his application because he told them he had worked for the Tamil Tigers. He also told British refugee officials he had worked for the group.
After his bid to join his wife in Toronto was turned down, Selvakumaran changed his story and denied working for the terror group. He explained his initial statements as the result of bad legal advice.
On July 9, the Federal Court rejected Selvakumaran’s latest appeal, saying that despite the MP’s letter of support, the CBSA had correctly prioritized national security and public safety.
An organization founded by victims of terrorism, Secure Canada, said last week that no MPs “should intervene on behalf of someone the CBSA has found to be a member and on the payroll of a terror group, period.”
The group’s CEO, Sheryl Saperia, said Anandasangaree’s letters had focused on the emotional impact of the man’s separation from his wife in Toronto, which she called a “ridiculous argument.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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