Canadian Tamil Congress Celebrates 14th Annual Thai Pongal & Tamil Heritage Month Virtually
The Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) hosted its 14th annual Thai Pongal & Tamil Heritage Month Celebration on January 30th, 2021. This year the event was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic and attracted many thousands of viewers across the world. The event continued to showcase the achievements of the Tamil community in Canada and highlighted CTC’s many accomplishments in 2020.
The virtual celebration event was attended by several dignitaries, including elected officials from all levels of Government in Canada as well as leaders from India and Sri Lanka. Rob Oliphant, Parliamentary Secretary of the Foreign Affairs, Garnett Genuis MP (Shadow Minister of International Development & Human Rights), Toronto Mayor John Tory, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, Jaffna Mayor Visvalingam Manivannan, Batticaloa Mayor Thiyagarajah Saravanapavan and City of Toronto Councillor Jennifer McKelvie were some of these dignitaries who also brought greetings to the event.
Other dignitaries who also provided greetings, either live or recorded at the event included Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Hon. Mary Ng, Federal Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance from the Province of Ontario, Shaun Chen MP, Salma Zahid MP, Marci Ien MP and Logan Kanapathi MPP.
This year’s “Service Excellence Award” was presented to Hon. Ma Foi K. Pandiarajan, Tamil Nadu Minister for Tamil Official Language, Tamil Culture and Archeology for his contribution for advancement and promotion of Tamil language.
The Leaders for Change Award was presented to Dr. Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam (USA) for his unique contribution as a volunteer educator, coach, humanitarian as well as a human rights and peace activist.
Sivan Ilangko, president of the Canadian Tamil Congress noted “we have made significant progress towards establishing a Chair in Tamil Studies at the University of Toronto with over $2.3 million collected thus far in donations and pledges”. Ilangko reminded members of the community to stay safe in this terrible pandemic by following the all applicable public health guidelines.
This year the CTC Women in Leadership award was presented to Sothymalar Paramsothy for her extraordinary community service in multiple areas in Canada and war affected regions of Sri Lanka.
The event also featured captivating dance performances by the students of Smt. Smt. Jenani Kumar’s Shilompoli Shethra Dance Academy, renowned multi-instrumentalist Sruthi Balamurali and Singer and Song Composer Kandappu Jeyanthan from Vavuniya, Sri Lanka.
The CTC would like to thank the thousands of guests who participated virtual at the event from across the world.