Newsline Canada

Mr. Manohar Parrikar, Goa's Chief Minister in Montreal.

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From left to right: Fr. Manuel Rodrigues, Fr. Agnelo Pinto, Mrs. Thereza D'Souza, Mr. Manohar Parrikar, Mr. Nehru Rodrigues (President of Quebec Goan Association), Mrs. Phyl Gomes (Secretary of QGA) and Mr. Jackson D'Souza (Director QGA)

Go Back To Where You Once Came From ~ Berna Cruz's Ordeal

She was asked how she could have a Latin name. The officers were not convinced when Cruz, who was born in Thiruvananthapuram, told them that her family is from Goa, where such names are common.
Full text at http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/newsletter/2003-8/supp1/BernaCruz.html

Canadian In Passport Fiasco
Humiliated by immigration staff
Feb. 14, 2003. 05:32 AM
JIM RANKIN (STAFF REPORTER)

A Toronto woman coming home from India says she was pulled aside at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, accused of using a fake Canadian passport, denied consular assistance and threatened with jail.

In tears and desperate, Berna Cruz says she told U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) officers she didn't want to go to jail. She told them she had to get home to her two children and was expected to be at work the next day at a branch of a major Toronto bank where she works as a loan officer.

Instead of jailing her on Jan. 27, an INS officer cut the front page of Cruz's passport and filled each page with "expedited removal" stamps, rendering it useless.

She was photographed, fingerprinted, barred from re-entering the U.S. for five years and immediately "removed."
Not to Toronto, but to India, where she had just spent several weeks visiting her parents. It took four days, and help from Canadian officials in Dubai and a Kuwaiti Airlines pilot, to get her back home.

Some excerpts from the reports
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.culture.region.india.goa/1413

Re: INS-deported Canadian a Goan??
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.culture.region.india.goa/1422

The Fourth Meeting of the Goan Engineers & Professionals held February 9, Toronto.

Topics discussed:

• Safety in the workplace.
• Keeping Fit & Healthy in the Working Environment.
• Opportunites For Engineers.
• Immigrant Engineers obtaining their professional designation.
• Problems of Student Engineers.
• Setup of Goan Networking/Business Group.
  
  For details see https://goanvoice.ca/2003/issue4/GoanEngineers.htm

News Clips from Goa
by Joel D'Souza & Fred Noronha

• Goa to host Fashion Week
  The most awaited event in the calendar of the Indian fashion world, the India Fashion Week, might be held in Goa from 18 to 24 July. The Fashion Week regularly attracts thousands of people including corporate and showbiz celebrities, international and national fashion buyers, tourists and other fashion lovers. The event has, over the past few years, been held only at Mumbai and Delhi but the FDCI is actively considering Goa as the venue for this year's IFW. (GT)
  
  
• Saved from Auctioneer's Hammer
  Two vintage cars that transported governors across Goa for several decades have been saved from the auctioneer's hammer after Governor Kedar Nath Sahani showed keen interest in retaining the cars. The black-coloured vehicles Mercedes Benz and Cadillac--which were imported by the Portuguese from Germany and the USA respectively in 1959, were due to be auctioned off, apparently after several governors found that they were just ornaments in the Raj Bhavan garage. But now the Mercedes Benz will be sent to the Goa state museum while the Cadillac will be used on ceremonial occasions. (GT)
  
  
• Bridge at Corjuem
  A proposed bridge between Aldona and its eastern island-ward of Corjuem, is expected to bring much relief to the 3500-odd inhabitants of this rustic island, once famous for its onions and chillies. The proposed cable-stayed bridge will be 210-metre long and is expected to cost around Rs.21 crore, according to Mr Jude Carvalho, the deputy manager of the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation which is co-ordinating the project. (Joaquim Fernandes in NT)
  
  
• "Mapusa will never become Mhapsa"
  Nationalist Congress Party general secretary and spokesperson Surendra Furtado has challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party legislature representatives that Mapusa town would never be known as Mhapsa. (H)

Events

Goan Konkani Troupe - Toronto - Tiatr

The Goan Konkani Troupe (GKT) will be holding their next production in the early spring of 2003.

The GKT welcomes new members. Dues are only $4 per annum. New members and supporters are needed for the following:

• Actors, musicians, singers, of all age groups for the main production.
• Solo artists, stand-up comedians, duets, and other entertainers for between scene performances.
• Set designers, stage hands, light and sound technicians for assistance behind the scenes.
• Distribution of fliers promotions, ticket and programme sales.

Participating members are entitled to complimentary tickets for performances.

For further information please contact: Lourdino Rodrigues @ 416 244 7923, e-mail Santano Rodrigues

New Seniors Group for Mississauga/Brampton Area

"Expressions of Interest" are invited from those who wish to participate in a new seniors group (60+) serving the North Mississauga/Brampton area.
An inaugural meeting is planned (following Easter Sunday) on Wednesday April 23, 2003 a 6 p.m.
The venue is to be announced later. Watch for a notice in later issues of Goan Voice Canada.

Please send an e-mail to giving names and phone numbers of seniors who may wish to join this group.
Posted by John J. D'Souza

International Goan Directory

An updated version of the International Goan Directory (Link to www.goacom.com/goandirectory is planned for 2004 by Lazarus Pereira the publisher.
To list new names or update existing entries pleas send an e-mail to com giving:
Your name:
Street:
City/Town:
Postal Code:
State/Province
Country:
e-mail address:

Advertisers are welcome - for details please contact Lazarus Pereira

Dr.Rosario D'Costa elected as the new president of Goan Association of Washington Metropolitan

The Goan Association of Washington Metropolitan Dr.Rosario D'Costa has been elected as the new president of the Association. He can be reached at 240-631-2726, e-mail:

People Places and Things

Goan Overseas Association Toronto - New Years Eve Party
See pics at: http://www.goatoronto.com/gallery/albums.php

Gilbert A. Lawrence, MBBS, MS (Bombay), DMRT (Engl.), FRCR (Lond.)

Dr. Gilbert Lawrence is from Aldona. His father was from Xantarxette and his mother from Guirdolim (near Chandor) in Salsette. Gilbert was born in Bombay, the last of eight children. He studied in St. Thomas High School in Aldona and graduated from Loyola High School in Margao at the age of thirteen. He studied at St. Xavier's College, Bombay, and Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Bombay. In 1968 he graduated from medical school at the young age of 23. He then studied to be a surgeon at KEM Hospital and Tata Memorial Hospital in Bombay in 1972.

On obtaining his Masters in Surgery Degree from Bombay University, Dr. Lawrence's interests in cancer took him to England to study Radiation Oncology -- the art of treating tumors with radiation. He was appointed registrar in Radiation Oncology at the Hammersmith Hospital in London, and later Senior Registrar at the London Hospital and Medical School. In 1976 Dr. Lawrence obtained his Diploma in Medical Radiation Therapy (DMRT) from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of England, and also the Fellowship from the Royal College of Radiologists (FRCR). At the FRCR examination he stood first and was awarded the Rohan Williams Medal. In doing so, Dr. Lawrence was the first Indian to be awarded the prestigious British award in a medical subspecialty examination coveted by physicians in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and all former British colonies.

Dr. Lawrence immigrated to the United States in 1977 and was appointed a research fellow at Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, NY, and later as chief investigator of fast neutron treatment of cancer at the Fermi National Laboratory - America's highest energy research facility in Batavia, Illinois. Dr. Lawrence is also Board certified by the American College of Radiology in Radiation Oncology.

During his career, Dr. Lawrence has published over sixty papers and review articles in many cancer journals. His special interest is the treatment of breast and prostate cancers. He has held numerous academic appointments including Clinical Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Kansas Medical School. He is the recipient of numerous awards in the United States and has been the guest speaker at many medical meetings and international conferences.

Currently, Dr. Lawrence is Chairman of the Cancer Committee at the Regional Cancer Centre at Faxton-St. Luke's Healthcare in Utica, NY. Dr. Lawrence is married to Philomena who is from Sangolda. She graduated from St. Anne's High School, Bombay, received the Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Xavier's College, Bombay and Bachelor of Education from St. Xavier's Institute of Education and taught at St. Xavier's Boys' Academy. She is now a writer. Philomena and Gilbert were married in 1973 and have one daughter. The Lawrences' hobbies are travel, history and amateur ballroom dancing.

Make babies, Singaporeans urged
(Editors comments - Many Goan parents in Toronto feel the same about their children)

SINGAPOREIf the government here had its way, Tang Li Fen, a 22-year-old single professional, would be married and making babies this Valentine's Day.

She and other young, unattached Singaporean women are the targets of a government campaign to promote having children in a bid to reverse a 14-year downward spiral in the birth rate.

This month the government launched its latest pro-family initiative, the Romancing Singapore campaign.

The brainchild of Family Matters! it is designed to get Singaporeans to "stop and smell the roses and to cherish the romance we have with our loved ones."

Built around Valentine's Day, the campaign's approach includes a theme song called Little Things, a raft of romance tips, and discounted candlelit dinners across the island country.

But Tang, a university graduate and an analyst for a consulting company, is unconvinced by the promotion. "Personally, I don't have an issue with having kids at 25, but it would damage my career," says Tang.

"It definitely hinders your prospects in the company if you take two years off to have kids."

Singapore's birth rate sank to a 14-year low last year with a total of 40,800 babies born in the city-state.

It marked a 3 per cent decrease from the previous year. In 1988, 52,000 babies were born.

Marriages are down too. The latest government figures show 22,000 couples in Singapore took the plunge in 2001, about 2 per cent less than the average throughout the 1980s or 1990s.

ASSOCIATED PRESS