The Ontario legislature on May 6th, passed Bill 104, proclaiming May 11-May 18 as 'Tamil Genocide Education Week'.  What appears as a harmless Bill to promote education and awareness and to add to the healing process of genocide victims, may end up having more implications for Ottawa than the ad hoc Bill may appear.The Bill is aimed at educating Ontarians about the killing of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka, particularly during the early months of 2009, the period considered to be the height of the bloody civil war in Sri Lanka- referred to as by the United Nations as “bloodbath”.The Sri Lankan High Commission in Ottawa was quick to condemn the Bill: “blatantly false claims… including the grossly exaggerated number of casualties at the conclusion of the conflict in Sri Lanka and allegations of “genocide””.The Petrie report, a U.N document, estimated the killing of Tamils during the days leading up to the  conclusion of the armed conflict in May 2009 to be more than 70,000.Similar to the Armenian genocide of 1915, the killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka has been a controversial issue for over a decade.  Persuasive bodies such as Permanent Peoples' Tribunal have ruled the episodes of Tamil killings as constituting 'genocide' within the meaning of the United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948.  However, many international actors including Canada, the U.S, and the U.N. have stayed away from referring the events as 'genocide', despite repeated calls from Tamil lobby groups.The question remains, whether Ottawa can continue to remain silent on a matter while the province passes such a Bill.Earlier this month, the Halifax Security Forum (HFX) announced that it was awarding the prestigious John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service to the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, for her courage in standing up against the Chinese Communist Party's aggression and intimidation tactics over its airspace.  The HFX's decision to hand Tsai Ing-wen the award was taken despite repeated pressure from the Federal government to not proceed with it.  Ottawa appears to be reluctant to further antagonize its second largest trading partner, China, with whom diplomatic relations have strained over the last two years with the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.Ottawa's position- or lack thereof- to remain quiet on some of the most pressing international human rights matters, while other persuasive bodies such as the HFX, the Provincial Legislature or other NGOs voice their concern, seems to not only contradict Ottawa's projection of 'feminist approach to foreign policy' as mere lofty speeches but also earnestly renews the long-standing questions of the past two decades.  Is the golden age of Lester B. Pearson in international diplomacy a thing of the past for Canada?  Can Canada not get back in the chess game of multilateral diplomacy as a principle based 'smart-power' country?On April 27, U.S President Joe Biden declared that the killing and deportation of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as constituting genocide.  The declaration came amidst widespread condemnation from Turkey, with whom the United States has strong diplomatic relationship with.Salpi Ghazarian, the director of the University of Southern California's Institute of Armenian Studies explained, Biden's declaration demonstrates that “we can in fact carry on trade and other relations with countries while also calling out the fact that a government cannot get away with murdering its own citizens.”Protection of human rights and democracy must remain the epicenter of Canada's foreign policy objectives in an ever increasingly multipolar world that continues to face simultaneous threats from powerful anti-democratic blocs: People's Republic of China, Russia, North Korea and their allies.  Formulating a principle and value based foreign policy where we can independently and in partnership strengthen the efforts of our allies is crucial.Its time Ottawa prop-up its game in the international arena and not allow itself to be tossed around by rogue players.  “Its not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog” that matter and Canada must position its chips accordingly, so we can take back the golden age and gain foothold back into meaningful engagement in multilateral diplomacy.K'annan K'annan is a legal researcher at Makaronets Law Professional Corporation based in Ontario.  His research interest focuses on examining remedial justice and state responsibility within the context of international criminal law.