{"id":37548,"date":"2015-01-20T14:09:13","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T19:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=37548"},"modified":"2015-01-20T14:16:41","modified_gmt":"2015-01-20T19:16:41","slug":"canadian-tamil-congress-celebrates-its-8th-annual-thai-pongaldinner-showcasing-tamil-arts-and-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=37548","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Tamil Congress Celebrates Its 8th Annual “Thai Pongal” Dinner Showcasing Tamil arts and Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n(Text of Press Release Issued by the Canadian Tamil Congress on its 8th Annual Thai Pongal Celebration)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Canadian Tamil Congress\u2019 (CTC\u2019s) 8th annual Pongal Dinner was celebrated on January 17th, 2015 at the Sheraton Parkway Hotel in Richmond Hill. Attended by close to 1,000 people, the event showcased Tamil arts, culture and highlighted CTC\u2019s impressive achievements in 2014.<\/p>\n

\"CTC_Dinner_2015_Dance\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CTC_Dinner_2015_Rathika_Sitsabaiesan\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The dinner was attended by several politicians, public officials and community leaders including the Federal Citizenship and Immigration Minister Hon. Chris Alexander, Parliamentary Assistant to the Prime Minister M.P. Paul Calandra, Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Ontario Minister Tracy MacCharles, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, City of Toronto Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong, Stouffville Mayor Justin Altman, Member of Parliament for Scarborough-Rouge River Rathika Sitsabaiesan, York Region Police Chief Eric Jolliffe, City of Toronto Deputy Police Chief Peter Sloly, Ontario Conservative party leadership candidates, Patrick Brown and Christine Elliott as well as numerous other MPs, MPPs, councillors, Consul General for India in Toronto Mr. Akhilesh Mishra, Chief of Political and Economic Affairs of US Consulate, Ms. Andrea Gorog, academics, professionals, members of law enforcement, media, business and community leaders.<\/p>\n

Greetings from Canadian government, Ontario government, City of Toronto, City of Mississauga, City of Markham and the host town Richmond Hill were also presented at the event.
\n
\nMr Raj Thavaratnasingham, president of CTC, spoke about CTC\u2019s international advocacy work and its role in the passage of the UNHRC resolution in March 2014, which established an international inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the final stages of war. While welcoming the change in presidency in Sri Lanka, the president said \u201cCTC remains hopeful that friendly countries like Canada, India and the U.S.A.\u2014who have provided much support so far\u2014can persuade the new government to resolve the underlying issues so that everyone in that country can move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n