The first notable demonstration took place on 28 January 2009 in front of the Sri Lankan Consulate in Toronto involving a few hundred people.

In the Greater Toronto Area, local Tamil communities and organizations began to set up demonstrations by January 2009, following similar movements in the United Kingdom and India regarding the large civilian casualties from the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Thousands of Tamils gathered in front of the Peace Tower, subsequently drawing out a few politicians from inside, notably Bev Oda and New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jack Layton.

Oda announced that the government would provide financial aid to the affected civilians, with the help of World Vision and Médecins Sans Frontières.

[8] Five protesters of varying ages also began fast-unto-death hunger strikes, but were forced to end ten days later due to deteriorating health.

[10] Ottawa City Councillor Eli El-Chantiry announced the policing costs for the protest to be nearly C$800,000 which the federal government was expected to pay.

[18][19][20] The protest began on Spadina Avenue but abruptly spread past police cordons onto the Gardiner Expressway, a busy freeway in the city, bringing all vehicular traffic to a halt.

[22] The next day, peaceful protests continued in front of the Consulate of Sri Lanka on the sidewalk of Spadina Avenue and at Queen's Park simultaneously.

[24] The counter-protesters flew a private airplane with a banner attached to it reading "Protect Canada – Stop the Tamil Tigers", circling Queen's Park for some time.

[27] In May 2009, a Sinhala-Buddhist temple in Scarborough was set on fire, allegedly by LTTE supporters, and a worshipper claimed that the incident was part of a global pattern of violence against Sinhalese wherever there were mass Tamil demonstrations.

Throughout the remainder of 2009, the protests continued but became smaller as attendance decreased to about two dozen at most, happening only in front of the Consulate of the United States on University Avenue, and only during the daytime.

On the 150th day, petitions were given out to protesters to sign, as they were in many other Tamil diaspora demonstrations around the world, and given to a guard at the Consulate of the United States.

A few members of parliament, such as John McCallum and Robert Oliphant, brought up concerns of whether the aid the government sends, which was announced to be C$3 million, would successfully reach the affected civilians or not.

Canada's Minister of State for the Americas Peter Kent, in an argument, suggested that extortions and funds underlying of the LTTE may still be present in Toronto.

Immediately, Liberal member of parliament Jim Karygiannis assured that there were no cases of such extortions in recent times after phoning a few national security agencies.

Kent reflected back, saying that both the LTTE and the Sri Lanka Army must drop their weapons in order for the war to end.

[36] A final report from the debate outlined four recommendations of action:[37] During the non-stop protests in Ottawa, Lawrence Cannon requested the Government of Sri Lanka for an immediate ceasefire.

[38] Bev Oda and the Conservative Party of Canada both condemned the use of LTTE flags, insisting that they symbolize connection with a terrorist organization.

He stated that there are no military solutions to the conflict and that the war must stop under a worldwide initiative and internationally coordinated diplomatic strategy.

We cannot sit back and watch as thousands of innocent lives are lost in the cross-fire, and we condemn any attempt to use civilians as human shields.

[41]On 13 May in Washington, D.C., Barack Obama condemned the civil war in Sri Lanka and the army's continuous shelling of safe-zones and shelters.

Although reasons for rejection were generally found unclear, the Government of Sri Lanka cited Rae was "a threat to national security and sympathetic to the Tamil Tigers rebel group".

In the editorial, he insisted that if the primary concern of the protesters was the safety of Tamil civilians, they would have asked the LTTE to free those trapped in the war zone instead of using them as human shields.