United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
(Year 2002)

 

On Wednesday June 26, 2002 CCVT celebrated its 25th anniversary in conjunction with the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. It was a wonderful event with special guests and speakers representing the refugee rights community in all its diversity and strength. Our fabulous MCs were Suhana Meharchand and Darnace Torou (pictured above left) and our keynote speaker was the honourable Denis Coderre, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (above right with Neil Wadhwana).

The evening started out with six-year-old Neil Wadhwana singing O Canada - boy, could he work a crowd! The first of many standing ovations went to Dr. Patan, who spoke in a very moving and powerful way about his experiences before and after coming to Canada (to view the full text of his speech, click here). CCVT’s Theatre Group performed Chasing Shadow , a collectively developed short piece initiated by clients and volunteers who conceived, wrote and performed this work based on experiences living as and working with refugees. It was really funny! Needless to say, it got the second standing ovation of the night.

Together, CCVT founding members Drs Federico Allodi and Philip Berger narrated the story of CCVT’s beginnings, inspiring the audience and affirming the importance organizations like CCVT has in civil society. The presentations of the CCVT Trevor Bartram and Amina Malko awards to Tom Clark and Geraldine Sadoway respectively provided some powerful and poignant reflections on what kind of impact this type of work can have on a person’s life.

The Sri Lankan children’s dance group was charming and Jacqueline Ndenga did a wonderful rendition of Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman as well as singing traditional Congolese songs.

We were very pleased and happy to have as guest speakers Kemi Jacobs, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) and Debbie Douglas, Executive Director of Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) (pictured above left and right respectively), both of whom made strong and pointed speeches about refugee rights.

Our very own Joan Borja, Child and Youth Program Worker, performed a step dance with her group Mocha - it was très funky.

Los Danzaq del Peru, wowed the audience with their lively dancing and their phenomenal stamina, and the evening wrapped up on a high note with Munni Subhani and her dance students and the Kurdish Kioma Folk Dance Group. Both groups had the audience cheering, clapping, and in the case of Kioma Folk Dance, ululating - a skill everyone should have!