By Senaka Samarasinghe
His Excellency Mr. Harsha Kumara Navaratne, High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Ottawa, swore in Mohamed Ismath (Ismath) as Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka for the Province of Manitoba on March 25, 2024, at the Sri Lanka High Commissioner Office in Ottawa.
Ismath now officially represents the Government of Sri Lanka as authorized by the Government of Canada. Deputy High Commissioner, Her Excellency Ms. Anzul Jhan, assigned the duties to Ismath.
Felicitation Ceremony
The Sri Lanka Seniors of Manitoba organized a felicitation ceremony at Whyte Ridge Community Centre, Winnipeg: (1) to express their desire (2) to announce their continuous and maximum support (3) to execute Ismath’s services to the community according to the expectation of the Sri Lanka High Commissioner to Canada in Ottawa.
The Board of Directors of the SLSM organized a cake cutting ceremony and served traditional milk-rice among members. During the vote of thanks, Ismath expressed his gratitude for organizing this ceremony and thanked Senaka Samarasinghe for nominating his name to the Sri Lanka High Commissioner.
Mohamed Ismath
Ismath completed his education in Sri Lanka and qualified as an accountant. Later he served in the financial and banking industry. He then immigrated to Winnipeg.
He worked as a senior executive in the Canadian automotive industry for thirty years. Now he is retired. Using his skills as a senior executive, he helped to enhance the development of tennis in Manitoba at both recreational and high-performance levels for over 30 years. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Tennis Manitoba as Past President.
Ismath is a founding member of the Sri Lankan Seniors of Manitoba. Pembina Active Living is a leading senior organization in the province of Manitoba and asked SLSM to nominate one of its members to the Board of Directors. Right now, Ismath is the Vice-President of PAL.
He has volunteered for Folklorama since 1998, serving on the Board of Directors since 2007, including two terms as President.
The Sri Lankan Association of Manitoba called for a meeting at Pembina Trails Library with the Sri Lanka High Commissioner H.E. Mr. Ahamed A. Jaward on April 22, 2016. As an attendee at this meeting, Ismath expressed his hands-on long-term experiences of establishing Folklorama and starting a business council.
Visiting Sri Lankan Young Singers in Winnipeg
On March 30, 2024, Nuwandika Senarathne, Suneera Sumanga and Lavan Abhishek visited Winnipeg to perform a concert, Dream Voices, at the Centre Cultural Franco-Manitobain. Nuwandika lined up songs in three languages other than Sinhala. She is planning to add more Tamil songs during her next visit. Suneera always asks the audience to sing along with him. Lavan performed as the lead vocalist Chris Martin of the rock band Coldplay.
Two of Nuwandika’s songs were written by Winnipeggers Roshini (Sinhala) and Nisali (English). Layan sang “Gaga Addra”, a Sinhala song. The lyrics were by Augustus Vinayagarathnam. Augustus’ wife and two daughters live in Winnipeg. Nuwandika is young generation lighthouse of Sri Lankan music scene. Her mentor is Prof. Udaya Annakkage, a faculty member at U. of Manitoba.
