The Supreme Court of Canada upheld a provincial law commemorating the thousands of civilians who were killed during a 2009 military offensive in Sri Lanka, contrary to news articles and social media posts that falsely claim the court struck down the legislation and suggested “no genocide” took place. The decision dismissed an appeal seeking to nullify the Tamil Genocide Education Week Act and did not touch on whether mass murder occurred in the island nation.

“Supreme Court of Canada says No Genocide in Sri Lanka and determined that the Bill 104 Tamil Genocide Education Week Act was not within Jurisdiction Education under Canada’s Constitution,” reads part of a Facebook post that Sri Lanka’s retired army major general Chagie Gallage published March 29, 2025 (archived link).

The post includes a screenshot of what appears to be a WhatsApp message linking to the Ontario Centre for Policy Research, which describes itself as a think tank (archived link). 

Similar claims spread elsewhere on Facebook. Local newspapers such as Ceylon Today and The Island Online, as well as several Sinhala-language outlets, also reported the court ruled the Canadian province of Ontario’s law was unconstitutional.

The claims emerged after the Supreme Court of Canada on March 27 junked an appeal challenging Ontario Bill 104, also known as the Tamil Genocide Education Week Act (archived links here, here and here).

Enacted in 2021, the law designated an annual week in May during which “Ontarians are encouraged to educate themselves about, and to maintain their awareness of, the Tamil genocide and other genocides that have occurred in world history” (archived links here).

Vijay Thanigasalam, a member of the Provincial Parliament who fled Sri Lanka during the decades-long civil war when he was a child, authored the bill (archived link).

The South Asian island nation’s drawn-out Tamil separatist war ended in May 2009. More than 40,000 people, mostly Tamil civilians, are estimated to have been killed by government forces in the final months of the war, an allegation Colombo has consistently denied.

On March 24, 2025, the British government announced sanctions against Shavendra Silva, former head of Sri Lanka’s armed forces, former navy commander Wasantha Karannagoda and former army commander Jagath Jayasuriya (archived link). The Foreign Office said the four were responsible for “serious human rights abuses and violations” during the war.

Claims that Canada’s highest court said no genocide occurred are false.

“Based on the available material, there is no evidence to show that the Supreme Court of Canada has said anything about a genocide in (Sri Lanka),” said Kalana Senaratne, a senior lecturer in the University of Peradeniya’s law department, in an April 11 email (archived link).

Misinterpreted ruling

In its March 27 ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the Tamil Genocide Education Week Act (TGEWA) as constitutional, upholding a September 2024 decision from a provincial appeals court that said the law “constitutes a valid exercise of Ontario’s powers” (archived links here and here).

The appellate court said it was not asked to rule if genocide took place in Sri Lanka.

“We are not being asked to decide whether the TGEWA is a wise use of government power. Our decision should not be interpreted as such,” the court wrote September 5, 2024.

“Nor are we being asked to decide if a genocide occurred in Sri Lanka. As the application judge emphasized, this case is not about whether a Tamil genocide occurred.”

The Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition said in a March 28, 2025 statement that it acknowledged the Canadian Supreme Court’s ruling (archived link).

“As the ruling itself clarifies, the Court was not asked to determine whether a genocide occurred in Sri Lanka,” the nonprofit said, adding that it remained “deeply concerned” about the decision’s “broader implications for social cohesion in Ontario and beyond.”

Gehan Gunatilleke, an attorney specialising in international human rights law and a member of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, agreed (archived links here and here).

“The (Supreme Court) appears to have dismissed the appeal, so that would mean the previous order of the Court of Appeal and the judgment of the lower court stand,” he told AFP in an April 8 email.

“This means the Tamil Genocide Week Act is held to be constitutional. The post that the (Supreme Court) made some statement about there being no genocide in Canada is false.”