As they say, people who live in tin houses shouldn't toss can openers. Which brings us to the recent epidemic of mammoth Tamil protests in Toronto. For decades, when their terrorist pals were either winning the war in Sri Lanka or holding their own - and practicing some of the vile terrorist tactics they invented, e.g. suicide bombers - there were no visible "human rights" protests in Toronto.

It's only now, with the war lost and their dreams of a separate homeland dashed, that they want the world to think that they are the victims.

The Sri Lankan government isn't exactly a poster child for virtue either. And, as the long, bitter war winds down, many innocent Tamil civilians are dying, both at the hands of the government forces and the Tamil terrorists. Indeed, the Tamils also perfected the tactic of using civilians as human shields and of shooting them in the backs when they tried to flee. Nice.

Canada -Toronto in particular - is home to the largest diaspora of Tamils outside of their home country, and several federal ridings in the east end of the city have huge populations of Tamils.

Which no doubt accounts for the shameful actions Sunday night - after the protesters had closed the busy Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto, sending women and children to the forefront of their protest - catching the police completely off guard.

The march ended when a representative from Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's office promised to take the demonstrators' cause to Ottawa. The Tamils want Canada to impose sanctions against Sri Lanka until the government enters into a ceasefire with the Tamils in the country's north.

Funny how all of this activity by the Toronto Tamil community only began lately, after their war took a dramatic turn for the worst.

Where were the protesters years ago when Tamils were recruiting women and children to act as human suicide bombers, a despicable tactic since adopted by several other terrorist groups? Make no mistake, Canada - and most countries - officially consider the Tamil Tigers as terrorists. Last month, the RCMP filed documents in federal court alleging the Tamil Tigers had raised money in Canada through the World Tamil Movement, an Ontario non-profit organization, to finance weapon purchases. RCMP forensic accounting reports allege that between 2002 and 2006, the World Tamil Movement in Toronto wired almost $3 million to overseas accounts.

Does any of this matter to Ignatieff? Apparently not, judging by his willingness to cater to the protesters in the hopes of garnering their votes. For many years, Liberals were shamelessly catering to the Tamils here, even as the radicals coerced moderate Canadian Tamils into funding their homeland war. Former Liberal leaders Jean Chretien, Paul Martin and Stephane Dion apparently had no problems with this, despite the group's record. Enter Ignatieff.

Again, let us not pretend the Sri Lankan government is without fault. It too can be - and often has been - brutal in its treatment of the large Tamil minority there.

But the Tamil Tigers, despite various opportunities for a peaceful resolution, have never really been interested.

This was shown dramatically on July 29, 1999, when Tiger terrorists assassinated moderate Tamil politician Neelan Tiruchelvam, who died when a female suicide bomber riding a moped blew up his car.

Tiruchelvam was a champion of Tamil self-determination and justice, but he wanted to reach these goals by negotiating, not by killing. He was a parliamentarian in Sri Lanka, critical of both the government and the Tigers - but instead of embracing his efforts, the terrorist Tigers vilified him as a traitor, and assassinated him.

Tiruchelvam also taught human rights at Harvard University. One of his colleagues there was Michael Ignatieff.

As Jonathan Kay reported in the National Post last week, Ignatieff was outraged when the Tigers assassinated his friend, making it abundantly clear what he thought of them in a subsequent speech to the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression awards dinner in Toronto.

Calling Tiruchelvam was "a man whose memory I revere," Ignatieff added: "When the word got out that I was going to give a lecture in Colombo in his honor, I began to get very extraordinary bits of Tamil literature, mailed to me with a Canadian postmark. And the sum and substance of these newsletters was basically to say that Neelan, my good friend, got what he deserved. This was a man who spent his entire life seeking peace and reconciliation on that bloody and tragic island. And it shocked me deeply to discover that the people who wished and rejoiced in his death were fellow citizens (of Canada) ... Don't think it doesn't put a chill down our spine when you get mysterious little missives like that."

What would his "friend" Tiruchelvam think of him now that he's willing to be the Tiger's apologist in Parliament?