Before Gary Anandasangaree became Canada’s public safety minister, his riding office repeatedly asked government officials about the immigration application of a female Tamil Tigers member, according to court records.
The immigration file of Rajini Rajmanoharan shows Anandasangaree’s staff made three inquiries about her case to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) between 2019 and 2020.
At the time, Rajmanoharan had already been deported from Canada and was trying to return, but border security officers had alleged she was ineligible as a “member” of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers.
The matter surfaced publicly last week, when the Federal Court upheld the government’s decision to reject Rajmanoharan’s bid to immigrate on the grounds she had been a member of the Tigers.
It was the second such case to emerge since Anandasangaree became public safety minister: Global News reported in July that he wrote letters urging immigration officials to approve the immigration application of another Tamil Tigers “member.”
The minister’s spokesperson said the calls to immigration officials about Rajmanoharan “were general in nature, seeking status updates on applications, a routine task undertaken by any MP’s office.”
She was not a constituent.
Also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, the Tigers are separatist guerrillas who fundraised in Canada, sometimes through intimidation and extortion, as they fought a failed civil war in Sri Lanka, an island off the southern tip of India.
Canada placed the group on its list of terrorist organizations in 2006, citing the LTTE’s campaign of political assassinations and bombings of civilians in Sri Lanka and India.
The conflict ended in 2009 but the Tigers remain on Canada’s terrorist list, which says the group “has an international fundraising and procurement network that continues to exist.”
In May, Prime Minister Mark Carney appointed Anandasangaree minister of public safety, putting him in charge of the federal agencies responsible for ensuring migrants are not affiliated with terror groups.
But after he was sworn in as public safety minister, Anandasangaree announced he was recusing himself from decisions related to the Tamil Tigers and its alleged Canadian fundraising arm, the World Tamil Movement.
Statements of Gary Anandasangaree
According to Anandasangaree’s spokesperson, Rajmanoharan’s husband “approached the minister’s constituency office in 2016 seeking assistance with family reunification.”
“It is not unusual for Tamil-Canadians to reach out, given the minister has constituency staff who are proficient in Tamil.”
Since the husband did not live in Anandasangaree’s riding, the MP’s office “repeatedly advised the individual to contact their local MP for assistance,” the spokesperson said.
“The minister’s riding office did not provide a letter of support for this individual.”
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According to Rajmanoharan’s immigration file, the requests from Anandasangaree’s office were for “case specific information,” and were all made by a member of his staff identified only as Dorine.
A 51-year-old teacher who is married to a Canadian, Rajmanoharan has denied being an LTTE member and said she was forced to work for the group. Her lawyer did not respond to emails requesting comment.
Asked about Anandasangaree’s involvement in the case, an immigration department spokesperson said that while MPs may advocate on behalf of their constituents, “final decisions rest solely with IRCC.”
The office of Liberal MP Mary Ng also inquired repeatedly about Rajmanoharan’s case, the records show. Ng represented the riding adjacent to Anandasangaree’s but stepped down before the 2025 federal election.
MPs commonly contact Canada’s immigration department on behalf of constituents seeking permanent residence in Canada and their families. Anandasangaree has said he stopped doing so when he joined cabinet in 2023.
But Rajmanoharan and Senthuran Selvakumaran, the other Sri Lankan whose immigration case Anandasangaree’s office assisted with, were both alleged by Canadian border officers to be LTTE members.
Amidst a trade war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has complained about migrant and drug smuggling, Carney has assigned Anandasangaree the task of toughening Canada’s borders.
But documents released to Global News under the Access to Information Act show Anandasangaree has handed Tamil Tigers-related decisions to his deputy minister, Tricia Geddes, and a second person whose name was redacted.
“The minister has asked that we meet to discuss the implementation of the below screen and that we both be the custodians of this screen,” the unknown official wrote to Geddes in a June 6 email.
The minister’s spokesperson told Global News the second official responsible for screening Anandasangaree from matters involving the two terrorist groups is his chief of staff, Francois Giroux.
An activist with the Canadian Tamil Congress before running for the Liberals in the Scarborough-Guildwood-Rouge Park riding in 2015, the minister has said only that he recused himself “out of an abundance of caution.”
Court records indicate that family members of Rajmanoharan’s husband, with whom she has two Canadian children, have contacted MPs for help with her immigration case.
Anandasangaree’s office made inquiries to IRCC about her immigration application on July 23, 2019, Feb. 6, 2020 and Nov. 2, 2020, according to records released by the Federal Court.
According to her file, Rajmanoharan told immigration officers she was “forced to work” for the LTTE in 1993 and 1994. She said she was a cook at an LTTE camp and tended to wounded fighters.
Between 1998 and 2006, a percentage of her salary also went to the rebels. Her contributions were deducted from her salary before she was paid, she said. “I never directly gave any money to the LTTE.”
“I never had anything to do with terrorism.”
She arrived in Canada in 2008 and made a refugee claim, which was rejected. The Canada Border Services Agency also alleged in a 2011 report that she was inadmissible for being an LTTE member but did not proceed with that part of her case until later.
Deported back to Sri Lanka in 2014, Rajmanoharan again applied to immigrate but was turned down after the CBSA’s national security screening division again alleged she had been a member of the LTTE.
“While cooking may not be an operational role within the organization, the applicant nonetheless improved the efficiency of the LTTE by providing functional support,” the CBSA wrote in its 2021 report.
“Furthermore, the applicant also stated that she attended to wounded fighters. While the type of care she provided is unclear, it should be considered that her contribution may have facilitated their return to combat, thereby improving the operation capability of the organization.”
On March 25, 2024, the Canadian High Commission in Colombo advised Rajmanoharan in a letter that she was not allowed to enter Canada because she was “a member of the LTTE as understood in Canadian jurisprudence.”
The letter also said her Canadian husband was not eligible to sponsor her to immigrate because he had sponsored his previous wife’s family, which nonetheless went on to collect $140,000 in welfare.
She appealed the decision to the Federal Court, but on Oct. 15, the judge dismissed the matter, upholding the Canadian visa officer’s decision that she was inadmissible for membership in the LTTE.
“The minister and his constituency team did not provide material support for someone who was determined to be inadmissible. In fact, the Minister has been clear, repeatedly, that he condemns terrorism in all its forms,” Anandasangaree’s spokesperson said.
