The Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday marked the Tamil harvest festival of Thai Pongal, with a special video message of celebration.

Valvettithurai's annual Pongal kite-flying festival took place on Uthayasuriyan beach today, with hundreds in attendance.

In a ceremony in Thyiddy, Jaffna today, the military professed to hand over a 2-acre Oorani Fishing Anchor Point to fishermen who have been displaced from the area for 27 years, but instead gave over a new unconstructed anchor point which is in a rocky area unsuitable for docking and launching fishing boats.  The 4 pre-existing anchor points in Oorani still remain under military control.  

Chief Minister Wigneswaran met with Ontario's Premier on Wednesday to discuss strengthening the relationship between the Northern Province and Ontario.

Ontario's Premier, Kathleen Wynne, told the Chief Minister that Ontario was interested in strengthening the relationship between the North and Ontario, including to strengthen support for the Northern Province in economic development, women's empowerment, institutional governance and public sector capacity building.

A press release from Premier Wynne's office stated:

Sri Lanka's prime minister said moves to restore European Union trade concessions were a victory for his government and for "all of Sri Lanka", after the European Commission recommended reinstating the GSP+.

"The government's commitment over the last two years, towards protecting human rights is now bearing results," declared the prime minister. The GSP+ was revoked from Sri Lanka under the previous  government.

The move will allow Sri Lanka to gain a wider access to the European market noted the prime minister. He went on to thank the "many people who committed their time and worked tirelessly" towards restoring the tariff.

The Global Tamil Forum on Thursday called on the Sri Lankan government to implement the Consultation Task Force's recommendations "expeditiously". 

"GTF welcomes the comprehensive recommendations related to the proposed judicial mechanisms, in particular, the need for ‘international expertise including judges in each transitional justice mechanism’, ‘both male and female judges representing all ethnic communities’, and ‘a special structure for women and children during examination of witnesses related to sexual crimes and crimes against children."

Amnesty International said it was “dismayed” at how the Sri Lankan government dismissed the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms, which recommended the involvement of international judges in an accountability mechanism.

“The Sri Lankan government expressly asked for this report with the taskforce appointed by the Prime Minister,” said Champa Patel, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director. “Now that they have done the hard work, it is dismaying that the government is not taking seriously the taskforce report and its findings.”

Sri Lankan troops in Kilinochchi began a three-month long training program for Tamil farmers in Kilinochchi, to teach them farming “ farming methods”.

An official military website declared the program, which commenced this week, is to be carried out by soldiers from the 65 and 66 Divisions.

The teaching program takes place at two military run farms in Kilinochchi, a former LTTE stronghold. Farmers will be made “aware on scientific and innovative farming methods and practices them under supervision” (sic) said the military.

The University of Toronto Scarborough Campus (UTSC) hopes to expand Tamil studies at the university with the help of donations by a UTSC alumnus.

Scarborough businessman Ravi Gukathasan has contributed $2 million to support Tamil studies at the university.

Currently, the Tamil Worlds Initiative (TWI) is a tri-campus program that hosts talks on a range of themes involving Tamil history, culture, religion and politics. TWI is also facilitating connections for students to intern in Sri Lanka.

With the expansion of the program, TWI would like to offer language classes and bring more visiting Tamil scholars to the university.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation and the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) to create a television channel that will showcase reconciliation programming.

The project is budgeted at 180 million rupees and was initiated with the aim of improving peace and harmony between the different ethnic groups in Sri Lanka.

The launch took place during the first “National Integration and Reconciliation Week” – taking place from January 8^th to the 14^th.

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