ABOUT
Mr. Tamil Canada (MTC), established in 2018, is an awareness raising organization that promotes the health and wellbeing of South Asian men. Considering the drastic increase in suicide rates among Tamil men over the years, the organization prioritized the mission of inspiring change and fighting stigma against men’s mental health by creating and fostering more awareness. The ultimate goal was to support men through their journey of recovery and building resilience by pulling back the curtain on the existing stigma and staying actively involved in discussing issues that are considered a taboo in the South Asian community. This goal was put into action throughout 2019.
MTC successfully launched an extravagant show and the first-ever Tamil men’s pageant on June 1, 2019 with an audience of over 650 people. The event was regarded as a new dimension for men to embrace themselves. MTC contributed $20,000 to the Canadian Tamil Medical Association (CTMA) in support of their collaboration with The Scarborough Network’s new initiative to provide Mental Health Care.
With such positive feedback and immense support from the community, Mr. Tamil Canada broadened their vision to the mainstream community. For the year of 2020, MTC’s objective is to create a larger platform to raise awareness on mental health and continue building its widespread profile. Furthermore, the team will continue to partner with and endorse voluntary organizations directly helping people recover from health complications through financial contribution.
Meet The Team
FOUNDERS
AJITH
SABARATNAM
Ajith Sabaratnam, an advisor working with major insurance companies, has been in the financial services industry since 1987. With over 20 years of experience, as an insurance broker, he has helped clients prepare and shape their financial future. His contribution, as an Elite Advisor to his community, has been impeccable and has earned him reputable respect amongst the people. He has been a member of the Canadian Tamil Chamber of Commerce (CTCC) for more than 20 years and served as the President of CTCC in 2015. Along the way, Ajith developed a great passion for community service, and is in the process of establishing a business in Sri Lanka to provide employment opportunities for the unfortunate. He has further become a mentor for the youngsters, on a business and a personal level, leading by example.
RAVI
KANAGASABEY
Ravi is a proud father of four wonderful children. He completed his Electronic Engineering Diploma at Humber College and soon after started his own company called Arthur Fire Protection Inc. Arthur Fire Protection is one of the leading companies in Fire Protection service which has been serving the industry over 15 years and furthermore it is the first fire protection company in the Tamil community. In 2013, Ravi won the prestigious CTCC “Entrepreneur of the year award”. Ravi strongly believes in giving back to the community and this is one of the reason that he is part of Mr. Tamil Canada which focus on Men’s mental health. He is also a board member for last 30 years at Downsview Community legal services, a non- profit organization which helps underprivileged people with legal matters. Ravi’s main goal is to use his business knowledge and ability to serve the Tamil community.
VILOSAN
SIVATHARMAN
Vilosan Sivatharman, has a degree in Electrical Engineering from Carleton University, Ottawa. He decided after several years in his field to venture into a career path that is the opposite of his university education. He completed the licensing requirements for a funeral director at Humber College. With Tamils having our own heritage, he plays an important role in creating a ceremony of remembrance for the deceased. He is the first Tamil speaking Funeral Director in North America and has been working at Chapel Ridge Funeral Home in Markham, Ontario since 2011. Vilosan is a proud father of two amazing kids and also volunteers with a few charitable organizations in Canada and Sri Lanka.He also served as a Board of Director of The Canadian Tamil Chamber of Commerce (CTCC) and Jaffna Hindu College old boys association in Canada.
SHANKAR
BALACHANDRAN
Shankar Balachandran, a local entrepreneur and the founder of Ontario Tamil Sports Entertainment (OTSE), has been enthusiastic in serving the community since a young age. Following the completion of his Bachelors’ degree in Business Administration at Brock University, he successfully launched the first ever Tamil sports league, the Toronto Tamil Basketball Association (TTBA) to provide Tamil youth with the opportunity to grow as individuals through competitive sports. The league fostered a sense of brotherhood and pride within the Tamil community and instilled confidence in players and coaches alike. Shankar further broadened his horizons by venturing into event coordination and management when he launched Elegant Affairs. Here, Shankar developed an interest in innovative catering methods and deepened his culinary appreciation. In 2015, Shankar launched Southern Aroma, a Southern Indian Cuisine Restaurant, from the ground up. At a time when restaurants have closed for lack of customers wanting to embark on dine in options; Southern Aroma has catapulted to being an industry leader.
MANCHUTHAN KANAGASEGARAM
Manchuthan Kanagasegaram, is a Senior IT Professional with 20+ years of experience at leading global investment banks such as Citibank, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse in the North Americas. Of these, 15+ years were at Credit Suisse, where he has served their IT department in various managerial capacities, supporting them not only across the Americas but also globally. He was one of the few selected to lead the IT Disaster Recovery initiative by Credit Suisse Management, for the New York Campus, post the 9/11 attacks. He was also one of the very few personnel, named by Credit Suisse Management as a “Critical Employee” to be retained by Credit Suisse, post the outsourcing to Hewlett Packard (HP). In 2012, Manchuthan co-founded Aalayaa Inc., along with his wife in Toronto. With his sole efforts, he has since made Aalayaa a top notch brand, running successfully into its 7th year, and established it as one of the leading providers of Indian Bridal Wear, serving their loyal clients globally. He, along with his wife, also founded Samyukta Wedding Show, in 2016, successfully hosting this South Asian Wedding Show for the past 4 years. He has also made sure to give back to the community by sponsoring various events in Toronto, supporting various causes and organizations. His current brainchild is Auxbid, an IT start-up initiative, which he is actively developing.
VIJAY
SELVARAJAH
Vijay Selvarajah is a Chartered Professional Accountant, and Certified General Accountant. Also, obtained a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from the Laurentian University of Ontario. Vijay has more than 25 years of accounting and management working experience from medium to big corporations including profit and not-for-profit. Lately, he worked 13 years at Michael Garron Hospital, previously known as Toronto East General Hospital, while working at Hospital he was holding many Financial positions. Presently, he is self-employed and doing Mortgage Financing for Residential and Commercial.
BOARD MEMBERS
JANANIE
BASKARAN
Jananie Baskaran is a Health Sciences professional, photographer and founder of a charity based initiative called Palm Roots. She currently works in the Pathology Department at Toronto General Hospital while balancing a part- time career as a photographer with a focus on corporate and fine art photography. In addition, she is the founder of a photography based charity initiative called Palm Roots through which she raises funds to support children in North/ East Sri Lanka for their educational and career development needs. A majority of these children supported belong to a family with a low income or have a parent with a physical disability. As of 2018, Palm Roots has raised over $60K to support children with their education.
JEY
JEYAKANTHAN
Jey Jeyakanthan is a highly successful entrepreneur and IT professional with over 22 years in Business Development, Project Management & Business Transformation for Fortune-200 companies. Jey is actively involved with many volunteer and advocacy organizations in Canada. In 2011, Jey founded AVAJ Future Solutions, a Toronto-based Digital Marketing, and Mobile App/Web Design Company. As AVAJ’s leading authority on mobile strategy, he helps business owners and entrepreneurs develop their mobile marketing practice. Jey also brings with him his expertise and extensive experience in Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimization, which gives him a powerful understanding of how these complementary technologies, can be used in combination to effectively bring marketers and customers ever closer together.
PREM
ARASARATNAM
For the past 10 years, Prem Arasaratnam has emerged as an active member in the South Asian Community. As a growing entrepreneur in the media industry, this has offered him the opportunity to meet a number of individuals who exhibit passion and confidence in their vision. Through Tamil Entertainment Television HD (TET HD), Prem amplified great interest in the issues that require support and attention in both our community and society as a whole. Prem has provided a platform via TET HD to enhance the voice of arising issues involving future generations.
ROSHAN
THAVARATNAM
Gabriel Roshan Thavaratnam obtained his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Electrical Engineering. He is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. He is a respected Real Estate Broker with interests in Commercial & Residential real estate valuations. A fully licensed mortgage agent and an Appraiser. He has worked in many areas in manufacturing, engineering management & real estate oriented businesses.
KAJAN KANESHALINGAM
n 2001, Kajan made his long-cherished dream come true as a Tamil announcer for Alayosai Radio, which operates on M330 in Canada. He also worked as a Tamil announcer for Tamilosai and Tamil Ini radios. A multi-talented Tamil radio presenter, program producer, stage presenter, writer and short story writer, he is also a photographer. Since June 2009, he has been running a small photography service company called Kavikan Creation, which he has been running for 12 years, with the idea of making the happy moments of everyone life fond memories. He has been involved in community work for the past few years. He was impressed with the policies and social activities of the Mr Tamil Canada organization and
He joined as a member of the Board of Directors in the year 2019.