CTC Annual Dinner 2013: Keynote Address by Alan Keenan

[ Wednesday, 23 January 2013, 07:55.47 AM GMT +05:30 ]

Canadian Tamil Congress introduced the “Living Hero Award” which is given to a person who has demonstrated exemplary leadership, courage and empathy in challenging circumstances.

The recipient of CTC’s first Living Hero award was “the Doctor” from Frances Harrison’s book “Still Counting the Dead”. The Doctor was instrumental in saving the lives of thousands of war wounded people in Mulliwaikal. This award ceremony held on January 19th, 2013 at the Markham Hilton Suites Conference Centre.
CTC was proud to be joined by leaders and political representatives from the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government. Established professionals of all stripes, leaders of industry, emerging artists, business owners, renowned writers, community builders and faith leaders were all in attendance.
Deputy Mayor Jack Heath for City of Markham, Dr. Helena Jackzek, MPP Oakridges-Markham for Government of Ontario and Mr. Chris Alexander, MP Ajax-Pickering for Government of Canada. There were numerous political leaders, including leadership candidates and other dignitaries present. A special mention must be made of Ms. Olivia Chow, MP as she came to thank CTC for honouring her late husband Jack Layton with “Service Excellence Award” in the 2012 Pongal dinner.

CTC President Mr. Suntharamoorthy Umasuthan outlined the accomplishments of CTC during the past year and outlined the goals of 2013. While thanking those who have supported CTC, Mr. Umasuthan emphasized the urgent need of new membership to help CTC continue advocating for both domestic and international issues. He highlighted 2013 as an important year for international advocacy and called upon the support of everyone.

In his speech he said, we remain committed to giving back to our Canadian home. We invested in our future leaders by launching the Center for Leadership and Innovation (CFLI) and we hosted inspirational individuals who have helped share our stories worldwide. Incidentally, the students of CFLI gave a remarkable performance to showcase why this centre is going to be a huge success going forward. Currently, over 50 students aged 10 to 16 are enrolled in the programme.
Umasuthan emphasized that 2013 is shaping up to be an ever more challenging year for CTC. CTC will host the 26th annual convention of FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America)in Toronto in July! He said it promises to be a memorable event, and stressed the need for the support of everyone. On the advocacy side, “we are redoubling our effort this year with the Canadian Government and the international community to call for an independent international investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka.” To this end, he said we will participate in the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2013.
Furthermore, if we don’t see any tangible changes to the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, CTC will work hard on asking the commonwealth governments to boycott the CHOGM meeting scheduled to be held in Colombo in November.