From St. John's to Toronto: Why an old, chipped lifeboat was shipped across the country
TamilFest is an annual Scarborough street festival that celebrates the food, costumes and music of Toronto's Tamil community, but this weekend you can see an attraction that's never been there before: a rusty old lifeboat from Newfoundland.
Why is it so important to Tamils in this city?
It's the same boat that drifted to shore in St. John's 30 years ago, carrying about 75 Tamil refugees huddled together, fighting for their lives, trying to escape the civil war in Sri Lanka.
"It's something that is incredibly unique, and it's certainly of value to the Tamil Canadian community," said Haran Aruliah on CBC's Metro Morning Friday.
The old lifeboat, once red, was repainted white but is still rusty and has some paint chipping off. It's about eight-and-a-half metres long and about three metres wide, not exactly a comfortable fit for the Tamils who took refuge on board.
The four-and-a-half-tonne boat was shipped west this month after the Canadian Tamil Congress purchased it to bring a bit of history back to Toronto — the place where many of the Tamil refugees resettled.
The cost of the boat and transporting it to Toronto was roughly $10,000, according to MP Gary Anandasangaree, who was a part of the process.
An emotional return
Aruliah has a special connection to the lifeboat.
He was only six when his dad abruptly bought a ticket for the next flight to St. John's..
Then he saw his father on TV.
"My dad disappeared for a while," said Aruliah. "I was watching him on the news." He told Metro Morning that his dad was one of the Tamil community leaders in Toronto who helped welcome the two boat-loads of Tamil refugees arriving on the shores near St. John's in 1986.
Aruliah and his father travelled back to Newfoundland this month for an emotional encounter with the boat that saved so many people's lives.
"I was shocked at how moving it was," he said. Four of the men who were on the boat originally all ended up sitting in the craft. "It was incredibly powerful. I'd never seen something quite like that."
'Dumped unceremoniously' at sea
The boat was tracked down in late July by filmmaker Cyrus Sundar Singh, who's planning a documentary on how Capt. Gus Dalton, a fisherman, came across the boats in St. Mary's Bay three decades ago.
There were 155 Tamil refugees that were fleeing Sri Lanka during the civil war. They left Germany on a cargo ship, and were "dumped unceremoniously into two boats" about 200 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, said Aruliah.
They were rescued by Dalton, who was also at the gathering in St. John's this month to celebrate the way Canadians welcomed the refugees with open arms.
Aruliah said there is now talk of opening a Tamil heritage museum in Toronto, with the lifeboat as one of its first artifacts.
To get directions to TamilFest this weekend to see the boat, check out the festival's website.
