Canada to extradite LTTE suspects to US

Saturday, 15 December 2012 01:21

Canada’s Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Canada can proceed to extradite two Sri Lanka men the United States has accused of involvement with the Tamil Tigers, which waged a bloody war for independence in Sri Lanka and is considered a terrorist organisation by Washington and Ottawa, reuters reported.
Piratheepan Nadarajah was alleged to have tried to purchase surface-to-air missiles and AK-47 assault rifles for the Tamil Tigers from an undercover officer posing as a black-market arms dealer on Long Island, New York.

Metro/Graham Lanktree
Shahriar Ayoubzadeh, of Ottawa’s Iranian community, said that the Persian solstice celebration of Yalda Dec. 21 shares many commonalities with the spirit of Christmas.

December 20, 2012
Updated: December 20, 2012 | 7:02 pm
Christmas spirit embodied in Iranian Yalda tradition
By Graham Lanktree
Metro Ottawa

Metro/Graham Lanktree
Shahriar Ayoubzadeh, of Ottawa’s Iranian community, said that the Persian solstice celebration of Yalda Dec. 21 shares many commonalities with the spirit of Christmas.

Yalda is older than Christmas, but shares its spirit, say Iranians who celebrate the Persian winter solstice celebration.

“It’s the night of birth or rebirth,” said Shahriar Ayoubzadeh, an Iranian of the Baha’i faith who came to Canada in 1987. “In the old tradition they used to celebrate exactly like Christmas with candles in the windows and lights in the house.”

Tobias Enverga

December 31, 2012

Thanh Hai Ngo

Updated: December 31, 2012 | 5:39 pm
Canada’s Senate more diverse with first members of Filipino and Vietnamese heritage
By Staff
Torstar News Service
Senator Thanh Hai Ngo came to Canada after the fall of Saigion in 1975.

A banker with a university degree from the Philippines, Tobias Enverga moved to Toronto in 1981 and started at the bottom, in the Bank of Montreal’s mailroom.

Enverga describes himself as just an ordinary guy, who had never been an active Conservative party member or campaign fundraiser.

Born in Baltimore, Barrie got his first taste of broadcasting at the age of nine, when he was asked to wake up campers every morning over a public-address system at a summer camp.

Andy Barrie ‘humbled ‘ by Order of Canada
CBC News Posted: Dec 30, 2012 6:02 PM ET Last Updated: Dec 31, 2012 6:27 AM ET
CBC Toronto’s former longtime Metro Morning host Andy Barrie has been named a recipient of the Order of Canada.

He was awarded the distinction, “For his achievements in Canadian broadcasting, as the voice of a diverse Toronto, and for his advocacy on behalf of those living with Parkinson’s disease.”

James Byron Bissett is a former Canadian diplomat. He was High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago and later Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria.

James Bissett: Canada makes the right moves on immigration
James Bissett, Special to National Post | Dec 31, 2012 1:54 PM ET
More from Special to National Post

Last month, new rules to deal with asylum seekers and human smugglers took effect in Canada. They represent a return to a time when common sense prevailed to prevent the abuse of our laws.

Despite strong resistance by the opposition parties and the refugee lobby, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenny introduced legislation aimed at curbing abuse and introducing a faster and more equitable process for adjudicating asylum claims. The June 2010 Balanced Refugee Reform Act and the June 2012 Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act, effectively created a new asylum policy for Canada.