Whereas the City of Markham is home to a large community of Tamil diaspora with over 21,000 living in Markham; and
Whereas The City of Markham’s Tamil community has made significant contributions to business, culture, and art in the City of Markham; and
Whereas the City of Markham acknowledges that during the Sri Lankan civil war thousands of Tamil civilians lost their lives; and
Whereas the City of Markham condemns the demolition of a memorial site built in Sri Lanka at Jaffna University in 2019 which was dedicated to the Sri Lankan civilians who lost their lives in the Mullivaikkal at the end of their 26 year civil war in Sri Lanka ending in May of 2009; and
Therefore the City of Markham will join with the Tamil diaspora in Markham to build a memorial in the shape of a waterfall or a garden for the Sri Lankan Tamils that lost their lives in Sri Lanka fighting a 26 year civil war; and
Therefore this proposed memorial be built in collaboration with the Tamil people and the City of Markham; and
Therefore the proposed memorial site be built as a waterfall or a Garden or another style memorial that meets Bylaw requirements and is located in a designated park in Ward 7 of Markham which has a large Tamil diaspora; and
Therefore the funding for this initiative be arranged by the community through fundraising efforts within the community and once attained the City of Markham will provide a suitable size land for this initiative with installation of this initiative at no cost to the community; and
Therefore this proposed designated site be in accordance with Markham City bylaws and with the Markham community.