Traditional Dancers bringing up the event

Lighting the Lamp and opening up the event

First Canadian to win GOLD at the World Racketlon Championships Ms Piumika Fernando

Recognizing the very best of the Sri Lankan community in Canada.

It was a night of spectacular excellence. With 10 award categories and 54 outstanding Sri Lankans competing to be the best in their respective fields, the 2008 Canada Sri Lanka Awards kicked off with a traditional oil lamping ceremony. Present for the cultural ceremony was the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, his Excellency W. J. S. Karunaratne, Consul General for Sri Lanka Mr. Bandula Jayasekera and a host of other dignitaries.

The Canada Sri Lanka (CSL) awards were organized by Can Indo Lanka Times in association with the High Commissioners office in Ottawa. Ms Ara McGuirk did a remarkable job in making sure that all nominations were received in time with all required information to be passed off to the judges for their selection process.

The CSL awards are designed to unite all Sri Lankans living in Canada encompassing all ethnic and religious identifications, specifically, Srilankan Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim or Berger. What mattered was that they all came together from one beautiful country and worked hard to achieve excellence despite any challenges they might have had to face. Adopting Canada as their new home, the distinguished nominees are to be admired greatly for their diligence and perseverance, competing shoulder to shoulder with other Canadians.

The Sri Lankan community has contributed immensely to the Canadian Economy and it is no surprise to find a Sri Lankan at top Executive levels in many multi national firms.

The CSL awards caught the attention of many, as the nominations were called in late last year and the very fact that the Sri Lankan high commission was stepping into acknowledge the many achievements of the Sri Lankans for the very first time was received well by the community.

A distinguish panel of judges comprising Muriel Mediwake, Sanjay Agnihotri, Karlene Ebanks, Suby Bhardwaj, Ms Sonya Avard, Mr Leopold Campbell, Dr Mel Jaingue, and Mrs. Cardenia Webster went to work on selecting the best in their respective field to name the winners of the CSL Awards 2008.

The High Commissioner, in a key note speech thanked Can Indo Lanka Times for organizing an awards ceremony of this scale and pledged to encourage the High Commissioners office in Ottawa to support this program on an annual basis. Mr. Bandula Jayasekera also addressed the gathering in his very first appearance as the Consul General for Sri Lanka.

The Cultural show was handled exceptionally well by Sujitha Kala dance troupe which put a remarkable performance depicting all Sri Lankan cultures. The parents of the children who participated went to great lengths to make sure that their kids would put a show to remember.

The night was full of energy when Roshan Amendra with his group of talented Acrobat dancers took the stage to deliver a splendid performance leaving the audience in awe. Rosh a talented gymnast was also a nominee of the CSL Awards for his remarkable achievements.

The awards were custom made from Kalapura, Sri Lanka a tiny village which is home to some of South Asia’s talented craftsmen. The move was initiated to give these poor villagers a sense of recognition and a reasonable price for their hard work.

Life Time Achievement Awards -CSL Awards 2008

The awards presentation kicked off with Mr. Francis Bobby Alvis winning the CSL Lifetime Achievement Award for his tremendous contribution to the community.

Among many other things Mr. Alvis was the founding member of the Canada Sri Lanka Association, which celebrating 40 years of serving the community. Sadly, the Sri Lankan community was hit with the loss of this outstanding gentleman shortly after the awards ceremony.

Excellency’s Awards – CSL Awards 2008

Dr Mervin Mediwake , Founder & President, Love Lanka Development Alliance was awarded this prestigious award for his outstanding contribution to the Sri Lankan people who loss their livelihoods after the Tsunami struck the country.

This tremendous disaster left almost 150,000 people dead in December 2004. Dr Mediwake is the father of Global news anchor Anne Marie Mediwake, the only Sinhalese to interview the late Tamil Chelvam in the jungles of Vanni, Sri Lanka.

Most Outstanding achievement -Academics & Research – CSL Awards 2008

Dr Patrick Selvadurai Professor of McGill University, Montreal, Quebec was honoured with this prestigious award for his outstanding contribution to Canada. Dr Selvadurai is a recognized world leader in his field of expertise.

Most Outstanding Achievement – Hospitality & Tourism- CSL Awards 2008

The Award for Hospitality and Tourism went to the Head of Suvara travels Mr. Vasant Veerasuntharam the First Srilankan to win a nomination from the conservatives for his area. He claimed 10,000 votes although he loss the seat to the Liberals.

Most Outstanding Achievement- Communication & Media- CSL Awards 2008

Ranjith Wickramasinghe, Founder Voice of Lanka TV came on top as the favourite of the judges for introducing the first ever Sri Lankan community television program now in its 15 year of serving the community.

Most Outstanding Achievement- Business & Finance – CSL awards 2008

President & CEO, Builder Homes Group and a Financial Advisor of WFG Securities Mr. Bobby Siva Wijey was awarded this prestigious award. Bobby has a strong record in the finance industry and built 52 homes in Sri Lanka for Tsunami victims in 2006.

Most Outstanding Achievement – Real Estate – CSL Awards 2008

Ravi Sirisena of Century 21 topped his category. This one time computer programmer is not afraid of take chances, as he made a dramatic change to his career starting of as a realtor. Ravi has won many awards and has served the community in a variety of ways.

Maple Awards - Out Standing Humanitarian Work – CSL Awards 2008

Ms Arlene Fonseka the founder / president of the Whispering hope organization which conducts many fundraising projects to help support cancer patients of the Maharagama Cancer Hospital, Sri Lanka was judged winner of this highly competitive category.

She has contributed immensely to the well-being of poor cancer patients who flock in for treatment from all over Sri Lanka.

Ven. Pangnasara head of the Brampton Buddhist mission and the Founder and President of the Canada Sri Lanka Life development Centre (which runs the Canadapura children’s village for kids left orphaned after the devastating Tsunami) was also acknowledge for his tremendous contribution to the community. It is widely thought that Ven. Pangnasara would win this title in the coming years.

Star of the Night – CSL Awards 2008

The first Canadian to win GOLD at the World Racketlon Championships Ms Piumika Fernando had absolutely no problems in securing her entitlement to this prestigious award. Piumika has brought pride, not only to Canada, but to Sri Lanka as well. This humble girl is highly respected in her community for her outstanding achievement.

Sri Lankan Youth of the Year – CSL Awards 2008

The only people’s choice award had an interesting end to this highly fought out title. Shaad Azeez a youngster who excels in track and field competed shoulder to shoulder with a Canadian Cricketer Ruvindu Gunasekera. Collectively they had more than 700 registered votes. Shaad Azeez clinched the title with just one vote to be honoured as the first Sri Lankan youth of the CSL Awards which also saw the conclusion of the awards ceremony.

Tall and gorgeous Miss Juhi Kumar a graduate of York University emceed the event and did a remarkable job interacting with the crowd.

Host was the official caterer for the event and provided the guests with a sumptuous buffet. Mr. Jay Setti did a remarkable job to make sure that he supported the Sri Lankan community at the CSL Awards Night.

Jet Airways Sales Manager Mr. Ajay Tandoon supported the event as the official Airline of the CSL Awards, 2008 while OMNI Television was the Media Sponsor of the CSL Awards 2008 with tremendous support offered by Mr. Senthil.

We are looking forward to next year’s awards ceremony as it is sure to be filled with incalculable efforts in the areas of academics, medicine, tourism, sports and community. If you know a community member that would be a deserving nominee for one of the awards listed, look out for the nomination forms that will be posted later on this year. Congratulations to all of our award recipients who are wonderful representations of our community!