Dharmasena Yakandawela served as a magistrate and district judge in Sri Lanka before migrating to Canada
By Somasiri Munasinghe
A former Sri Lankan judge who migrated to Canada disillusioned by the breakdown of law and order in his home country is contesting in the September 20 Canadian federal election as a candidate from New Democratic Party (NDP).
Dharmasena Yakandawela had his humble beginnings as a child growing up in a rural village. He was born in Chandana Pokuna in Polonnaruwa and had his education in Giritalewewa Maha Vidyalaya. Presently, he is on the threshold of becoming a remarkable immigrant success story by representing the NDP from Abbotsford riding in British Columbia province.
During an interview on Rupane web TV based in Toronto, he said his mother single-handedly brought his family of three sisters and two brothers after his father died when he was three years old.
From a young age, Yakandawela dreamed of becoming a judge. “I developed this idea after seeing a magistrate presiding over a trial in a Sinhala film when I was in the fifth grade. Some or other, despite many hurdles, I entered the Colombo University to study law and served as a lawyer in Colombo for seven years and joined the judicial service of Sri Lanka in 2000,” he said.
He served as a magistrate and district judge in several areas and decided to leave the country as he noticed how law and order in his country was breaking down at an alarming rate.
During an interview with a Sri Lankan chat show in 2020, Yakandawela said his main reason for leaving the country was the tyrannical behaviour of a chief justice who served in the early 2000s.
In the hard-hitting interview, Yakandawela criticized the lawlessness of Sri Lanka, adding that how the government treated a former justice, Shirani Bandaranaike, was deplorable.
Bandaranayake, Sri Lanka’s first female Supreme Court Judge, was controversially impeached by the government for her audacity to challenge certain decisions by the ruling elite.
Describing the differences between Canada and Sri Lanka, he said that rulers in Sri Lanka come to power promising to do away with corruption and injustice, but once in power, they forget their promises, plunging neck-deep into every possible scam to make money.
“In Canada, there is the rule of law with people vested with the power to change the legal system to suit their aspirations,” he added.
Initially, his life in Canada was hard, Yakandawela said, adding that he found a small job to survive the early months. “Then I applied for a bank loan of $4000 to pursue higher law studies, and after passing out, I started working as an immigration consultant. Within one year, I helped dozens of new immigrants to settle down in Canada,” he said, explaining how he laid the foundation to achieve success in his adopted country.
Yakandawela helped his clients to establish contacts with his bank. Inspired by his entrepreneurial spirit within a short time, the financial institution launched a new project designed to grant facilities to new immigrants borrowing on his initiative.
“The programme was a massive success, and the bank had a cover story about me with my picture splashed on the front page of their annual report. In 2018 I passed out as a barrister and solicitor in Canada and started working as a lawyer,” Yakandawela said.
Explaining how he came to contesting the riding, he said his interest in Canadian politics led him to meet NDP leader Jagmeeth Singh when he won a by-election in Burnaby riding in 2017. “I had no contact with him after that, but as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a surprise federal election last month, I received an email from the NDP inquiring whether I would like to contest from Abbotsford riding. After I expressed my willingness, the party asked me to send my biodata and other details for an extensive vetting process. Finally, I was asked to contest in the forthcoming federal election,” he said.
The New Democratic Party (NDP) officially adheres to social democracy, and it is one of the most left-wing of Canada’s mainstream parties.
The NDP won 24 seats last election and became a part of a minority government as Trudeau’s Liberal Party, which fell 13 seats short of a majority. This time too, polls suggest the possibility of a minority government. According to opinion surveys, Liberals have a lead with 31.3%, while the opposition Conservatives are close behind with 30.1. The NDP is at 19.4% percent.
Abbotsford riding has a total population of little over 101,000 with diverse demography. Since then, the electoral district, created in 2003, has been held by the Conservative Party. The present MP, Ed Fast, was elected after winning 25,162 votes. The Liberals obtained 10,560, while the NDP came third with 8,257.
European origin voters comprise 67.4 percent of the population, while South Asians amount to 17.1. Abbotsford is heavily multi-ethnic, with voters claiming their roots in China, Korea, Phillippines, Latin America and Arabia, while the aborigines (native Americans) are the third-highest population with 6.2 percent.
Physician Navreen Gill, representing the Liberal Party, is the other South Asian contesting along with Yakandawela.
He describes the election as a challenge. “I am new to Canadian politics, but the party is a hundred percent behind me helping in the campaign. There are only about 10 Sri Lankan families in my riding. They have expressed their full support for me without any ethnic or religious differences.”
Explaining the nature of Canadian politics, he says it is quite different from what exists in Sri Lanka. “Here, MPs are elected to perform public service, and my party is known for its people-friendly economic policies. We are paying special attention to marginalized communities like recent immigrants of diverse ethnic backgrounds and the native Canadians who lack sufficient representation in politics,” he said.
The NDP has some of the most progressive policies in Canadian politics, with particular attention paid to increasing health care spending, raised awareness of child-care programmes, allocating more funds to fight climate change, working for reconciliation with indigenous population, and reining in skyrocketing of housing prices.
He said if he is elected to the parliament, he hopes to focus attention on Canadian Sri Lankans without any ethnic or religious bias. “At the moment, there are some misunderstandings between the Canadian government and Colombo, and as a Sri Lankan-Canadian, I will be focussing on easing the tension between the two nations.”
Rathika Sitsabaiesan became the first Sri Lankan-born MP to be elected to the House of Commons in 2011. Presently, Gary Anandasangaree, representing Scarborough-Rouge Valley riding in Toronto since 2015, is the only Sri Lankan origin MP in the federal parliament. He is the son of V. Anandasangaree, a leading Tamil politician in Sri Lanka who was actively involved in TULF and TNA parties.
