This weekend as many as ten thousand Tamils fled the war zone in northeastern Sri Lanka. Aid agencies estimate 200,000 more civilians remain trapped by the weeks of fighting between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE or Tamil Tigers. Hundreds of innocent civilians have been already been killed.

Tamil communities outside Sri Lanka are appealing to the international community to use whatever influence possible to stop the fighting and to get humanitarian aid to civilians.

Over the past couple of weeks there have been large, ongoing demonstrations in London and also in Toronto, where one of the largest Tamil communities outside of Sri Lanka lives.

And for many of these Tamils, it's been a time of despair and desperation.

Tens of thousands of Tamils and their supporters took to the streets of downtown Toronto on Monday in a protest aimed at bringing home to Canadians the plight of friends and relatives in Sri Lanka. They blocked traffic in the city's centre and formed a human chain several kilometres long.

Toronto and its suburbs are home to about 200,000 Tamils and ties to the people in the homeland run deep. Many in Canada have lost loved ones in the 25-year struggle for Tamil independence.

But the Tamil Tigers are cornered and face military defeat from a determined Sri Lankan army. All that's left to them is a 200-square kilometre area of jungle in the country's northeast.

It's estimated there are about 15-hundred rebel fighters but as many as 200,000 civilians trapped by the fighting and it's the fate of those civilians that worries the Tamils in Canada.

Benedict Rajenthiran lives just east of Toronto. He's distraught over what is happening to his family back home.

"We don't know anything about our family, hospitals are being bombed, schools are being bombed, people are lviing under the trees and the community in Toronto is also suffering"

He continues

"I have a father who is 80 years old and I have 2 brothers and their families. I have my sister, her family and my cousin and my neighbours and so many people I grew up with. I lived with them, I shared their food"
Rajenthiran says Tamil civilians are afraid to go to government-controlled areas because there have been reports that many who do have been killed. Rajenthiran and others are pleading with the Canadian government and the international community to take action.

"We had the Rwandan crisis, 800,000 people got killed. This world did not do anything and here we have another genocide going on. My people are being chased away and people are being killed"
The Canadian government did get the message. Bev Oda is the minister for international co-operation and development. He recently announced that three million dollars would be given in immediate emergency aid relief to the Sri Lankan people.

In his speech he said:

"These are the people who have been destabilized, the last hospital operating has been bombed and we have people trying to provide them with medical care, food clean water and shelter."

Ottowa has also joined the call for an international ceasefire. But critics say Canada and many other countries have been too slow and diplomatic efforts are coming too late.

Because of the civilian deaths, the rebels no longer have the same influence over Tamil expatriate communities. Some Tamils say there is no genocide, as has been claimed. Others says the Tamil Tigers have carried on a campaign of intimidation in Canada, forcing people to attend rallies and finance rebel operations.

Lenin Benedict is with the Canadian Democratic Tamil Cultural Association and he thinks these demonstration pose a threat. He said recently

"I would require the Canadian Society not to support these movements here in Canada because it is going to be a threat in future, if you don't put an end to this."

Last week, Sri Lanka celebrated its independence from British rule. For Tamils in Canada there has been no celebration and as the fighting possibly moves into its final stages, the main hope is that aid agencies can bring humanitarian supplies to the thousands who are without food and shelter and medicine to those who are sick and wounded.