Our Team
The Tamil Rights Group (TRG) brings together activists directly connected to the struggle for Eelam Tamil rights since the early 1970s while also recognizing the historical importance of ensuring continuity for the next generation of advocates.
Navaratnam Srinarayanathas
Director
President and Chair
Navaratnam Srinarayanathas is an experienced international business leader having built successful ventures in Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, United Kingdom, France, and Canada. His business interests have spanned a wide range of sectors from consumer-packaged goods to real estate and environmental conservation to sporting franchises. Under the Sri Kala International banner, Das has also produced Tamil-language films, the most notable of which was famed filmmaker Balu Mahendran’s critically acclaimed “Veedu” which won the Best Tamil Film Award at India’s 35th National Film Awards in 1988.
Das has been a passionate advocate for Tamil rights since the early 1970s when he was a political prisoner and survived torture at the hands of the Sri Lankan state. He is the inaugural President of Tamil Rights Group, an international advocacy not-for-profit focused on legal advocacy for justice, accountability, and a just political solution for Eelam Tamils. Das is also the Patron of the Srinarayanathas Foundation, a registered charitable private foundation in Canada.
Katpana Nagendra
Director
Secretary and Spokesperson
Katpana Nagendra migrated to Canada in 1985 after being displaced during the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom while residing in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Since then, she has been a long-time advocate for human rights issues and strived to ensure accountability and justice for Eelam Tamils. She then returned for the first time as a member of the Tamil Student Volunteer Program (TSVP) internship program to teach English-as-a-Second Language at post-secondary institutes and local orphanages in and around Kilinochchi.
Katpana is also a professionally trained Bharatanatyam performer and has completed her arangetram in Chennai, India. She currently resides in Vancouver, Canada and works in sales and marketing for a chemical distribution company.
Mayooran Thevarajah
Legal Advisor
Mayooran Thevarajah is a passionate human rights advocate with particular interest in the plight of Eelam Tamils and those with disabilities.
Always having had a keen interest in the law, Mayooran has held several legal support roles in various law firms in the United States, the United Kingdom, and throughout the Greater Toronto Area. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2024.
After completing his Bachelor of Laws at the University of Sussex in Brighton, United Kingdom in 2019, Mayooran was a Researcher on the Advocacy Team at People for Equality & Relief in Lanka (PEARL), and first joined Tamil Rights Group as a Legal Affairs Assistant in June 2023.
Mayooran also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and a law clerk diploma from Seneca College.
In his spare time, you can find Mayooran cheering on the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Lakers, at the movie theatre, or listening to Motown and ’90s pop music.
Haran Viswanathan
Volunteer Legal Advisor
Haran Viswanathan is currently a partner in Baker & McKenzie’s Corporate Transactions Practice Group in Toronto, Canada. His practice primarily focuses on domestic and cross-border M&A, public and private financings, corporate re-organisations, regulatory compliance, and general corporate and securities law matters. Prior to his current role. Haran was in-house counsel for a global oil and gas company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Our directors provide leadership to several functional areas of the organisation, including Research & Policy, Membership, Partnerships, and Public Affairs led by subcommittee chairs based in Australia, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, and United States.
There are also additional Country Coordinators who are adjunct directors of the organisation and provide regional leadership.