Rathika Sitsabaiesan

Rathika Sitsabaiesan (; born December 23, 1981) is a former Canadian politician who was the member of Parliament (MP) for Scarborough—Rouge River from 2011 to 2015 as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP). Sitsabaiesan is the first Tamil to be elected to the House of Commons.

Early life Rathika Sitsabaiesan is seen with her parents and Thomas Mulcair at the Scarborough United Fundraiser event on October 17, 2013. Rathika Sitsabaiesan was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka on December 23, 1981. She has three elder sisters. Sitsabaiesan and her family immigrated to Canada when she was five.

Sitsabaiesan grew up in Mississauga, west of Toronto. While there, she served as Vice President of the Tamil Students Association. Sitsabaiesan became the first Tamil Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons of Canada, and only the second Tamil woman to be elected to any federal parliament outside India or Sri Lanka, the first being Singaporean Member of Parliament Indranee Rajah.

Sitsabaiesan was subsequently appointed critic for Post-Secondary Education (Human Resources and Skills Development) in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet in the 41st Canadian Parliament.

Following the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution, Scarborough—Rouge River was split into two with largest share, 71%, going to Scarborough North with the remaining 29% going to Scarborough—Rouge Park. Sitsabaiesan contested the 2015 federal election in Scarborough North but in the nationwide Liberal landslide she trailed in third with 8,648 votes (22.07%).

On April 21, 2016, it was reported she was seeking the Ontario Liberal Party nomination for the vacant provincial Scarborough—Rouge River seat; the seat was previously held by Liberal Bas Balkissoon until he resigned on March 22, 2016. However, her bid for the Liberal nomination was unsuccessful.

Sri Lankan civil war Sitsabaiesan said she would take the initiative to form an All Party Parliamentary Committee (APPC) to look into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka during the last stages of the war. This claim has been denied by Sri Lankan authorities, and the Canadian High Commission has confirmed that she was not put under house arrest nor was any arrest warrant issued against her. This was because the LTTE was banned as a terrorist organization in Canada since 2006.

Awards Sitsabaiesan is the recipient of The V. K. Krishna Menon Institute's "Personality of the Year Award" in 2012. The award was conferred on her for her untiring efforts on human rights issues in Sri Lanka, opposing the persecution of Tamil minorities in Sri Lanka and her ability to represent her constituency without racial and creed prejudices.

Electoral record

Filmography

Films + Year Title Role Notes 2024 Ray of Hope Self