Gary Anandasangaree’s phone number was found in a document seized when RCMP national security officers searched a suspected Tamil Tigers fundraising office in 2006, records obtained by Global News show.
The police search took place nine years before Anandasangaree became a Liberal Member of Parliament, during a counter-terrorism investigation into a suspected money-collection scheme by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers.
Anandasangaree is now Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, putting him in charge of the nation’s counter-terrorism agencies, including the RCMP, Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Canada Border Services Agency.
The document in which his contact information appears was discovered during Project Osaluki, an investigation into the World Tamil Movement (WTM), which allegedly raised millions in Canada for the Tamil Tigers, a designated terrorist group.
Investigators were executing a search warrant at the WTM headquarters in Toronto on April 22, 2006, when they found the document in a room used as a fundraising office, according to RCMP records.
Beside the name “Gary A.,” it listed a phone number that Global News matched to the one Anandasangaree used at the time, and that appears in an archived version of his campaign website voteforgary.ca.
It was part of a thick dossier of evidence filed in Federal Court in 2009 when prosecutors applied to take over the WTM’s properties and bank accounts on the grounds they were controlled by a terrorist group.
The RCMP filed the document, which listed Anandasangaree’s phone number and a dozen others, in court in a file titled “Contact list of area coordinators,” but no detailed explanation was provided.
The materials do not allege any wrongdoing by Anandasangaree, whose office told Global News it was unaware of the document and did not know how it ended up at the office of the Tamil Tigers’ alleged Canadian front organization.
The document is dated Dec. 29, 2004, three days after the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated parts of Sri Lanka. On that date, Anandasangaree was reportedly part of a delegation that lobbied politicians to send humanitarian aid to the battered island.
The minister’s office said Anandasangaree was a law student then and “took a leading role in organizing and participating in community-driven efforts to support humanitarian relief for the people of Sri Lanka, one of the countries that was the most affected by the disaster.”
“His leadership extended beyond fundraising, as he brought together voices within the Canadian Tamil community to amplify their call for coordinated aid and took part in a roundtable discussion with then-prime minister Paul Martin to advocate for urgent Canadian assistance to affected communities in Sri Lanka and other regions in need.”
“The Minister has no knowledge of how this list came to be found by the RCMP and was never contacted by law enforcement about this matter. He never raised money for the World Tamil Movement,” his spokesperson said.
Global News reviewed the court file on the WTM after Anandasangaree announced, less than a month after becoming public safety minister on May 13, that he was recusing himself from making decisions on the group.
He said he did so to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest but has not otherwise explained his actions. He also said he would avoid decisions on the Tamil Tigers, also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE.
“The minister denounces terrorism in all its forms and takes his responsibilities, as well as Canadians’ expectations regarding integrity and transparency, extremely seriously. He will continue to carry out his duties as such while ensuring the safety of Canadians.”
Following his recusal announcement, Global News reported that before joining cabinet, Anandasangaree wrote letters urging border security officials to allow a suspected former member of the Tamil Tigers to resettle in Canada.
While Anandasangaree initially said he only did so because he was the MP who represented the man’s wife, Global News reported that court documents indicated the woman had never lived in his riding.
His office responded that it was not uncommon for MPs to assist Canadian citizens outside their ridings, especially if the local MP is unable to assist due to their role in cabinet, as was the case in this situation.
“It is also important to note that this particular applicant’s family was introduced by a known constituent of Scarborough-Rouge Park. This should have been made clearer in the minister’s statement of July 14, 2025,” his office said.
The news reports have led to calls for his resignation from his cabinet post, as well as op-eds by supporters. Anandasangaree became a lawyer in 2006 before seeking office in Scarborough for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.
He previously served as minister of Indigenous affairs and justice minister. Prime Minister Mark Carney has now assigned him to see through legislation to appease U.S. President Donald Trump by hardening Canada’s borders.
Working out of a Scarborough industrial building, the WTM ran a fundraising operation that funnelled money to the Tamil Tigers to finance their civil war on the island nation, according to the RCMP.
The Canadian government placed the Tamil Tigers on its official list of terrorist entities on April 8, 2006, citing the armed group’s campaign of political assassinations and bombings of public buildings.
Two weeks later, the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team raided the WTM head office in Toronto, seizing computers and paperwork, Tamil Tigers paraphernalia and propaganda.
The document listing Anandasangaree’s phone number was found on the third shelf of a brown filing cabinet in Room 19 of the WTM headquarters, according to the RCMP records.
“I believe that this room was an office used to conduct the fundraising operations of the WTM,” the RCMP alleged in an affidavit filed in court. “The occupant of this office is unknown, however the contents seized from this office indicate that it was used by someone who had direct control of the WTM.”
“I base this belief on the fact that the items seized from room 19 are not limited to but primarily consisted of financial records, internal WTM documents, and receipt books for donations made to a large variety of fundraising schemes,” according to the affidavit.
Anandasangaree’s number was listed along with a dozen others, one of which corresponds with the phone used by the WTM representative in Ottawa, but others had no known affiliation with the terrorist group.
Global News contacted all the numbers on the list, but some had been reassigned and most did not respond, although two said they did not recognize the document or know why they were in it.
During the search, police officers could be seen exiting the building carrying boxes they loaded into the rear of a U-Haul truck parked outside the building, which had been sealed off with yellow police tape.
After translating and analyzing the documents, the RCMP alleged they showed how the WTM had been used “to collect funds for the purposes of purchasing arms and materials in furtherance of their cause.”
Evidence seized during the search “uncovered a lengthy repertoire of fundraising methods employed by the World Tamil Movement such as bake sales, car washes, newspaper sales, merchandise sales, festivals and other events, as well as door to door collections,” the RCMP wrote.
The investigation “has revealed that the World Tamil Movement and the LTTE have been demonstrated to utilize pressure tactics to solicit funds and donations as well as participate in implied threats,” the RCMP wrote.
The WTM was “controlled by the LTTE” and collected money “under the guise of humanitarian aid,” the RCMP wrote in its affidavit. “Persons operating out of this business function solely for the purposes of promoting propaganda and for gathering funds from the Tamil diaspora to forward to the LTTE in Sri Lanka.”
Also seized was an operations manual that instructed the terror group’s “foreign branches” to advance the “freedom struggle” by spreading propaganda, raising money and establishing contact with parliamentarians and ministers.
The Project Osaluki investigation prompted the federal government to add the WTM to Canada’s list of terrorist entities in 2008 on the grounds it was the Tamil Tigers’ Canadian front organization.
“The leadership of the WTM acts at the direction of the LTTE and has been instrumental in fundraising in Canada on behalf of the LTTE,” according to the Public Safety Canada website.
“WTM representatives canvas for donations amongst the Canadian Tamil population, and have been involved in acts of intimidation and extortion to secure funds,” the government’s profile adds.
In 2009, the Sri Lankan military defeated the LTTE and killed its leader. Government forces have been widely accused of indiscriminately killing Tamil civilians during the final stages of the civil war.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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