By The Canadian Press

Permanent residency applications approved for family of Ottawa mass murder victims

Jan 19, 2026 | 2:01 PM

OTTAWA — Canada has approved permanent residency status for the Sri Lankan brother and father of an Ottawa man whose wife and four children were killed in a gruesome mass stabbing.

Darshani Ekanayake, 35, her seven-year-old son Inuka and her three daughters, Ashwini, 4, Ranaya, 3, and Kelly, two months, were killed at their Ottawa townhouse in March 2024.

Gamini Amarakoon, 40, a family friend and tenant of the family, was also killed.

Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, Ekanayake’s husband and the children’s father, was injured in the attack but survived.

In November, Febrio De-Zoysa was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, after pleading guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

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Wickramasinghe’s brother and father came to Canada after the murders to support him and last year asked the federal government for help after applying for permanent residency but hearing nothing for months.

Immigration lawyer Ronalee Carey, who is representing the family, said Monday both the brother and father had their applications approved earlier this month and are now just waiting for their cards to arrive.

Carey says Wickramasinghe’s brother, Chelaka Wickramasinghe, is now planning to sponsor his wife and daughter, who previously were denied visitor visas that would allow them to travel to Canada. She says processing time for that is 14 months.

“Obviously, this is not ideal as the family has been separated for so long already,” Carey says.

Carey says she had requested that Canada’s immigration minister reconsider the denials of the visitor visas, but didn’t receive a response.

She says she’s still collecting documents from the previous visitor visa application and will make further attempts to try and ensure it’s successful.

“Since processing times are so long for the sponsorship application, we would like them to come as visitors for now,” Carey says. “His wife can apply for a work permit once she is in Canada, though processing times are so long that she’ll be waiting a long time for it to be approved,” Carey said.

“IRCC could expedite processing of her work permit by issuing it in conjunction with a temporary resident permit, if they so choose.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2026.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press