{"id":2299,"date":"2020-11-10T13:25:22","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T18:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/?page_id=2299"},"modified":"2020-11-10T15:31:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T20:31:28","slug":"canadas-capital-declares-april-as-sri-lankan-heritage-month","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/slcao-community\/canadas-capital-declares-april-as-sri-lankan-heritage-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada’s Capital Declares April as Sri Lankan Heritage Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Publishing date: Nov 10, 2020  \u2022  2 minute read<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We are pleased to announce that His Worship Jim Watson, Mayor of City of Ottawa has declared April as Sri Lankan Heritage Month. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, all events were cancelled and there were delays to obtain the proclamation. We as a community are thankful to the Mayor, City Councilors and staff of City of Ottawa for this recognition. We also thank community volunteers, supporters , sponsors, SLCAO President Anura Ferdinand and Executive Committee to make this landmark recognition a success for not just Ottawa but for all of Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recognition received in 2020 will pave-way for future city-wide, province-wide and national proclamations with the support of community members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 2019 SLCAO Tri-City Cricket Tournament & Six-a-Side Tournament petitions to request city wide and province wide April As Sri Lankan Heritage Month proclamations were collected and handed out. The events were well attended and the following dignitaries were present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hon MP David McGuinty, Ottawa South
Mr. David Bertschi, Concervative Candidate \u2013 Orleans
His Excellency High Commissioner M.A.K. Girihagama
Hon MP Chandra Arya, Nepean
Hon MPP Marie-France Lalonde, Orleans
City Councillor Riley Brockington of River Ward
Hon MPP John Fraser, Interim Leader Ontario MPP for Ottawa South
Mr. Nissanga Jaysinghe, Chair SLCAO Seniors Group 2019
Dr. Nimal De Silva, President Peradeniya Alumini Association<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Signed petitions were handed over to:

City Councillor Riley Brockington of River Ward – Municipal Proclamation
Hon MPP John Fraser MPP for Ottawa South – Province Wide Proclamation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full video here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FSLCAO%2Fvideos%2F364052791179507%2F&show_text=false&width=560<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full text of proclamation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

APRIL AS SRI LANKAN HERITAGE MONTH<\/strong><\/p>

WHEREAS<\/strong>, Ottawa is home to a large and vibrant Sri Lankan community; and<\/p>

WHEREAS<\/strong>, since the first Sri Lankans arrived in Canada in the 1950s, Sri Lankan-Canadians have made significant contributions ranging from Civil Service, University Academia, Medical and Engineering Professions, Agriculture and Agri Business, Computer Sciences, Banking , Arts and Crafts , Service , Manufacturing and many other Industries. Their contribution to Canada and to Ottawa is immeasurable: and<\/p>

WHEREAS<\/strong>, \u201cAluth Avurudu\u201d or New Year is the biggest of all celebratory festivals in the Sri Lankan community and it falls in April; and<\/p>

WHEREAS<\/strong>, Sri Lankan Heritage Month will bring Canadians together to express their civic pride and to express their commitment to Canada by performing artistic activities, taking part in Canadian celebrations, sharing Canadian values and enriching the Canadian society with their practices of colourful heritage;<\/p>


THEREFORE<\/strong>, I, Jim Watson, Mayor of the City of Ottawa, do hereby proclaim April as Sri Lankan Heritage Month<\/strong> in Ottawa.<\/p>

<\/p>

AVRIL COMME MOIS DU PATRIMOINE  SRI\u2011LANKAIS<\/strong><\/p>

ATTENDU QU’Ottawa abrite une communaut\u00e9 sri lankaise importante et dynamique; et<\/strong><\/p>

ATTENDU QUE<\/strong> Depuis l’arriv\u00e9e des premiers Sri\u2011Lankais au Canada dans les ann\u00e9es 1950, les Canadiens d’origine sri-lankaise ont apport\u00e9 des contributions importantes allant de la fonction publique aux universit\u00e9s, en passant par les professions m\u00e9dicales et l’ing\u00e9nierie, l’agriculture et l’agroalimentaire, les sciences informatiques, les banques, les arts et m\u00e9tiers, les industries de services et la fabrication en usine. Leur contribution au Canada et \u00e0 Ottawa est incommensurable; et<\/p>

ATTENDU QUE <\/strong>\u00ab Aluth Avurudu \u00bb ou Nouvel An est le plus grand de tous les festivals de c\u00e9l\u00e9bration dans la communaut\u00e9 sri-lankaise et qu\u2019il tombe en avril; et<\/p>

ATTENDU QUE <\/strong>le Mois du patrimoine sri-lankais r\u00e9unira les Canadiens pour exprimer leur fiert\u00e9 civique et exprimer leur engagement envers le Canada en effectuant des activit\u00e9s artistiques, en participant \u00e0 des c\u00e9l\u00e9brations canadiennes, en partageant les valeurs canadiennes et en enrichissant la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 canadienne avec leurs pratiques de patrimoine color\u00e9; et<\/p>

PAR CONS\u00c9QUENT, <\/strong>je, Jim Watson, maire de la Ville d\u2019Ottawa, proclame par la pr\u00e9sente, avril comme Mois du patrimoine sri-lankais<\/strong> \u00e0 Ottawa.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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What this means to the community?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would highly recommend future community events held in April to include “April as Sri Lankan Heritage Month<\/strong>” context and to invite municipal, provincial and federal dignitaries to share the Sri Lankan culture, heritage and friendships as Canadians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Publishing date: Nov 10, 2020  \u2022  2 minute read We are pleased to announce that His Worship Jim Watson, Mayor of City of Ottawa has declared April as Sri Lankan Heritage Month. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, all events were cancelled and there were delays to obtain the proclamation. We as a community are thankful to the Mayor, Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2300,"parent":18,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2318,"href":"https:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2299\/revisions\/2318"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slcaottawa.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}