On Monday, Stockwell Day, Canada's Minister of Public Safety, announced that the federal government has outlawed the World Tamil Movement (WTM) using provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Act. The decision is welcome, and signals that our government will not stand idly by when evidence suggests its own citizens are being subjected to coercion at the hands of terrorist agents in Canada.

The WTM, headquartered in Toronto amidst the largest Tamil-Canadian community in the country, claims money it raises in Canada is used to help Tamil victims ensnared in the ongoing struggle between Sri Lankan government forces and The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist organization that has been waging war for a Tamil state in Sri Lanka since 1983. But the RCMP, which has been investigating the WTM since 2003 and raided their Toronto and Montreal offices in 2006, paints a different picture. It alleges that the WTM is a front for the Tamil Tigers, a group outlawed in Canada since 2006, and that its aggressive fundraising tactics within Canada's Tamil community amount to extortion .

For years, many Tamil Canadians have complained about shakedowns at the hands of Tiger agents in Canada. They fear that retribution will be meted out here or on their families still in Sri Lanka if they do not give money. Now that there is evidence to suggest those concerns are legitimate, Mr. Day and the government deserve praise for moving swiftly and acting on the evidence to protect Tamil Canadians from those who would prey upon them.