The Josephian-Peterite Alumni Association of Canada (JPAA Canada) was formed in 1984 in Toronto, Canada. JPAA Canada was the first Sri Lanka Schools’ Alumni Association to be formed in Canada. We pride ourselves of this fact. Others followed in the early 90s and now almost every school in Sri Lanka have formed Old Boys’ Associations in Toronto mainly but in other provinces as well.
Lets try to capture how all this started with JPAA Canada! It all started in 1982 in Don Mills at the home of a loyal Peterite Upali Obeyesekere. Over a drink one summer day – St. Elmo Obeyesekere, an old Josephian was having a drink with his son Upali and his good friend Benito de Silva (Josephian). Elmo had already earned his name as a sports promoter par excellence in his hometown of Kurunegala. In conversation, Elmo suggested to Upali and Benito to launch a Canadian version of the Josephian-Peterite cricket series in Toronto. At the time there may have been around 50-75 Canadians who attended either of the two schools in Colombo – St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College.
The next year in 1983, Elmo sadly passed away of a heart attack at North York Hospital in Toronto. The seed he planted was growing in the mind of Upali and now it became more of a challenge to get the job done in memory of his dear father. In 1984, Upali met with his close friend Benito and did a bit of brainstorming as to how this could be done. Together, they enlisted a core group of ten (10) from among their close knit circle of friends in Toronto who attended both SJC & SPC. The duo agreed on some fundamental protocol such as the group should consist of equal number representing each school. After deliberating, they came up with the following who are the founders of what we know today as the Josephian-Peterite Alumni Association of Canada,
AD-HOC COMMITTEE – Upali and Benito realised that it was futile to launch a structured association with the low numbers and therefore decided to form an Ad-Hoc Committee to get the ball rolling. The following were handpicked to be part of this committee with a mission to organise the inaugural Josephian-Peterite cricket encounter on Canadian soil. Benito de Silva, Sunimal Perera, Roy Alles, Jimmy Raymond, Raymon Lord, from the Josephian camp and Upali Obeyesekere, Hazmee Hameed, Nihal Perera, Anton Perera, Lyall Bakelmun from the Peterite camp. Upali acted as the Co-ordinator while Anton Perera was Treasurer of the group and all meetings from 1984-1990 were held at Upali’s residence at 57 Overton Crescent in Don Mills.
INAUGURAL CRICKET MATCH – Securing a cricket ground in Greater Toronto Area (GTA) was alarmingly difficult in the eighties. Fortunately, Upali was playing cricket for Marigail Cricket Club in Orangeville. He negotiated with the Dubois family who owned the facility and the Inaugural Josephian-Peterite Cricket Encounter was played in 1985 at the picturesque Marigail Cricket Grounds in Orangeville. Benito de Silva captained the Josephian team while Upali Obeyesekere captained the Peterite team.
The image below shows the two captains (Upali Obeyesekere SPC and Benito de Silva SJC) walking out from the Marigail Sports Club pavilion for the toss in 1985 – inaugural Joe-Pete encounter in Canada.
After many phone calls, the two captains successfully got the teams ready for the match. The Josephians had a strong team compared to the Peterites. Led by Upali Obeyesekere, the Peterite team comprised of Ronnie Willenburg, Nihal Jayawardena, Andrew Goonetilleke (visiting from Sri Lanka), Susantha Obeyesekere, Ranjit Wijeyesekere, Lucky Ranchigoda, Nihal Perera, Basil Gurusinghe, Maurice Ranchigoda and Neville de Silva. The Josephian team led by Benito de Silva comprised of Ray Lord, Ian Joseph, Chris Cooke, Sunimal Perera, Rohan Vanigasooriyar, Noel Bartholomeusz, Derrick de Silva (From USA), Melvin Machado, Anslem Lawrence, Shirley Rangalla, and Ken Serpanchy (From USA).
Reserves were Errol de Silva, Peter Karunaratne, Srilal Wijeyesekere, Lalith de Silva, K. Kulendran, Sarath Rajanayagan for the Peterites. The Josephian reserves were Balendra Naguleswaran, George Wanniappa, Kumar Lawrence, Roshan Wanniappa.
The Josephians won the Inaugural Josephian-Peterite (Canadian Series) match easily with a young star-studded team.
For the record, this “big match” in 1985, was the first Sri Lanka Schools’ encounter that took place on Canadian soil. JPAA Canada is proud of this honour. Kudos to the Ad-Hoc Committee for their initiative in organising this memorable match. Rev. Fr. (Dr) Stanley Abeysekara, Rector of St. Joseph’s College was Chief Guest at this inaugural match. Upali Obeyesekere had a personal connection with the rector and negotiated with him to attend the event. Since there were no funds available in the newly formed JPAA coffers to fly him down, took it upon himself to fund Fr. Stanley’s visit to Toronto for the flight and accommodation at his home. It was a great start that was well received by the Sri Lankan-Canadian community at-large.
INAUGURAL DINNER DANCE – JPAA Canada flourished in time and decided next to have their Inaugural Dinner Dance. The same Committee organized a super dinner dance on 27 May 1988, at The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Don Mills. Music was provided by Music Masters (DJ) and attracted around 350 guests. For the record, this was the first dinner dance by a Sri Lanka Schools’ Alumni Association in Canada. The “JPAA Brand” had made an indelible mark on the Sri Lankan-Canadian Community. Guests who attended the dance were mainly from Toronto, but came from Ottawa, Hamilton, Windsor, and other cities within the Ontario Province.
JPAA CANADA BECOMES REGISTERED ASSOCIATION: As the years went by, the numbers increased with the exodus of Sri Lankans immigrating to Canada among whom were past students of SJC & SPC. After much deliberation, it was decided to structure JPAA Canada as a registered association and this was done 1993, with a set of by-laws and Constitution. Upali Obeyesekere was elected the Inaugural President of JPAA Canada. Others who were elected at the meeting were Ian Joseph (Vice President-SJC) and Anton Perera (Vice President-SPC), Benito de Silva (Hony. Secretary), Srilal Perera (Hony. Treasurer), Hazmee Hameed (Social Secretary), Bhanu Wijeyesekere (Membership), Nihal Jayawardena and Chris Cooke (Joint Sports Secretaries). Chris Serpanchy was appointed Hony. Auditor. Group photo of the first Board of Directors is shown here below.
JPAA CANADA – PRESIDENTS (1993-2017)
1993 Upali Obeyesekere – 1994 Jimmy Raymond – 1995 Anton Perera – 1996 Robin Rode – 1997 Hazmee Hameed – 1998 Chris Cooke – 1999 Bhanu Wijeyesekera – 2000 Milan Gunawardena – 2001 Nihal Jayawardene – 2002 Lloyd Wijesinghe – 2003 – Rehan Goonetilleke – 2004 Victor Santhiapillai – 2005 Roderick Diaz – 2006 Jeevan Pragasam – 2007 Ranier de Lambert – 2008 – Valentine Balasingham – 2009 Rishan Navaratnam – 2010 Christy Joseph – 2011 Christy Joseph – 2012 – Upali Obeyesekere – 2013 Upali Obeyesekere – 2014 Upali Obeyesekere – 2015 Upali Obeyesekere – 2016 Christy Joseph – 2017 Christy Joseph
