JPAA Canada donated Two-Thousand Dollars (CAN) towards infrastructure improvements at St. Joseph's College, in 2015.

A two-member delegation comprising JPAA President Upali Obeyesekere and Immediate Past-President Christy Joseph visited Rev. Fr. Travis Gabriel last May (2015) at the Rector's office and handed over a bank draft in the $2000.00 to Fr. Travis for infrastructure development work at St. Joseph's College. 

JPAA Canada holds the distinction of been the first Sri Lanka Schools' Association to be formed in Canada, in 1984. Going on its 32nd year, the association has plans to help both schools (St. Joseph's College and St. Peter's College) with donations meant primarily for infrastructure improvements. Both schools have been the beneficiary in the tune of over one-million rupees each, since JPAA was formed in 1984. JPAA Canada is also the only "Joint" Alumni Association for the Josephians and Peterites in the world. An enviable record that shows that working together is better than working against each other.

" Helping the Alma Mater is a dominant mandate of JPAA Canada", says President Upali Obeyesekere. "This is the least we could do towards the great institution which gave us sound education and taught us the basic values of life and living with each other", he added.

Overseas branches of both schools are in existence in Canada, USA, U.K., Australia, UAE and a few other countries. Besides providing a forum for the alumni to meet and greet each other in their adopted country of choice, overseas branches have been a source of monetary help to the alma mater over the years. 

Fr. Travis Gabriel with Upali Obeyesekere.

Appended below is an e-mail communication between Joint Trustee of the JPAA Canada Trust Fund Upali Obeyesekere and Honorary Auditor, JPAA Canada Chris Serpanchy on November 15, 2016. Contents of the e-mail is self-explanatory. 

Download pdf document – JPAA CANADA TRUST FUND ACCOUNT

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November 15, 2016.

Mr. Chris Serpanchy  – Hony. Auditor, JPAA Canada 
 
Dear Chris, 
 
I must report a serious situation that has arisen in one of the two “Trust Accounts” held by JPAA Canada of which the undersigned is Joint Trustee. The amount in question is Three Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty-Five Dollars and Cents Fifteen ($3,745.15). The monthly statement that were sent to me suddenly stopped and on enquiry with TD Canada Trust, 1800 Sheppard Av E (Fairview Mall) Branch I am told that this account has been closed as of June 13, 2016. 
 
I spoke to JPAA President Christy Joseph this morning about the matter. He was very vague as to how this happened and said JPAA Hony. Treasurer Radley Perera had authorized the withdrawal of these funds. I do not know who this person is and how he had the authority to withdraw the funds without first obtaining the approval of the two trustees who must sign a bunch of documents to get this done. Further, Radley Perera was not the elected Hony. Treasurer at the AGM held on April 8, 2016, and I have not received any communication from the President, JPAA Canada informing us that he has changed the elected official and replaced with a new one. 
 
I have initiated an investigation into the matter and it will take a little time for the bank to apprise me of specific details of who signed the documents for the withdrawal of these funds.  
 
As you are aware, the two trustees to the JPAA Trust Account can be changed only at an Annual General Meeting held annually by the general membership only.  
 
Let me get to the bottom of this soon after which a final report will be submitted to you. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
Upali Obeyesekere Joint Trustee, JPAA Canada Trust Account 
 
 

Report on the OBU Branches World Wide

The following is an extract of the Colombo-based SPC-OBU Annual Report 2011/2012 published in connection with the 84th Annual General Meeting held on July 1, 2012. This refers to the $2000 (CAN) donation by JPAA Canada towards the St. Peter's College Chapel Renovation Project – 2012.

REPORT ON THE OBU BRANCHES WORLD WIDE

The Overseas Branches have yet again extended their whole hearted support to the OBU in Sri Lanka by generously contributing to the Fund Raisers organized by the OBU. Special mention should be made of the following Branches whose support to the OBU and College has been invaluable.

JPAA Canada (Josephian-Peterite Alumni Association of Canada) – In April 2012 the founder President of the JPAA Canada Mr. Upali Obeyesekere was in Sri Lanka as the head of the Canada-Sri Lanka Business Council delegation to the Expo Exhibition in Colombo. During his visit he met with Rev. Fr. Travis Gabriel (Rector), Mr. Rohan Victoria (Chairman Peterite Walk 2012) and Mr. Roshan Dharmaratne (IPP) and presented a cheque for CAN $2000 (Approximately Rs. 250,000) for the Chapel Project.

The JPAA remains a vibrant and active body of Joes and Petes working in harmony organizing many social and sports events for the Joe/Pete community in Toronto.

The Annual General Meeting of the Josephian-Peterite Alumni Association of Canada (JPAA Canada) was held on Friday, April 8, 2016, at Markham Rugby Club in Unionville.

JPAA President Upali Obeyesekere presided at the AGM. The Minutes of the AGM were taken by 1) Jerome Fernandez for outgoing committee and 2) Philip Navaratne for incoming committee.

JPAA President Upali Obeyesekere presented the 2015 Annual Report. He said:

JPAA Canada is a unique organization. It is the only joint organization for St. Peter's College & St. Joseph's College in the whole world. The term of a president is two years and alternates between the two schools (SJC & SPC). In the history of the association, there were two exceptions to the term in office – noted below. Reason being there was no member willing to take up the office of president.

1. Christy Joseph (SJC) served as president in 2010, 2011 and 2012 for an extended  3-year term;
2. Upali Obeyesekere (SPC) served as president in 2013, 2014 and 2015 for an extended 3-year term; 

Upali Obeyesekere said the focus for 2015 was to give the members their monies worth and as a result he kept the ticket prices for both the Membership Nite & Annual Dinner Dance to a minimum. He said it was a lean and mean year for the 31-year old association and there were many fiscal constraints that were enforced to cut down operational costs in cricket that used up a lot of funds as both the Big Match and Saints Quadrangular are hevaily sibsidized. A match fee of $10 per player is charged which hardly meets the cost of the grounds. In addition, some players are enlisted to play in both Masters and the Main game and only one match fee is charged in this instance. 

During the 2015 fiscal year, JPAA had two members who performed the duties of Hony. Treasurer. First was IPP-Christy Joseph who helped the ex-co out for a few months and then Ranier De Lambert took over in the last few months. JPAA Canada President thanked Christy and Ranier for for their due diligence in maintaing the finances of JPAA. Following odf document displays the audited Financial Statements prepared by Auditor Chris Serpanchy.

2015 Financial Statements duly audited JPAA 2015 FS

The following activities took place in 2015.

• In April, the 2015 Annual General Meeting took place;
• In June 2015, the " Membership Nite" was staged at J&J Banquet Hall – Tickets were priced at $25/person and the event was an unqualified success;
• The 31st Annual Josephian-Peterite Big Match was staged in two formats – Main Game and Masters Game – Match Fee of $10 per player was charged;
• JPAA Canada fielded two teams in the Annual "Saints Quadrangular" T20 Cricket Tournament played at Ajax Cricket Club Grounds – 1) Josephian team and 2) Peterite team;
• The Annual Dinner Dance held in November at the Markham Convention Centre provided the patrons an excellent fare. Internationally acclaimed pop star Alston Koch was guest artiste while DJ-Pradeep Thomas provided super dance music. Ticket prices were kept at $50/person (lowest in town) to ensure that the members, well wishers got a good deal. 

The 2016 AGM was attended by the following:

Excerpt from JPAA Annual Report 2015 presented by JPAA President Upali Obeyesekere

At this year's AGM – Christy Joseph was ushered back again as president of the association for two-year term (2016 + 2017). Some new blood was infused into the committee with Philip Navaratne having been elected General Secretary and Aubrey Atton as Assistant General Secretary. This augurs well for JPAA Canada.

The outgoing president of JPAA Canada, Upali Obeyesekere said a donation of $2,000 (Canadian) was made by JPAA Canada to Rev.Fr. Travis Gabriel, Rector of St. Joseph's College in May 2015. At a special presentation in Colombo in March 2016, at the rector's office, President Upali Obeyesekere and Immediate Past-President Christy Joseph met with Fr. Travis and presented $2,000. for infrastructure development work at St. Joseph's College.

The "Trust Account" of JPAA Canada for 2015/2016 was managed by Upali Obeyesekere (SPC) and Jeevan Pragasam (SJC).

To: JPAA Canada Members

Subject: Annual General Meeting 2016

TAKE NOTICE that the 23rd Annual General Meeting of the Josephian-Peterite Alumni Association Canada (hereinafter called “JPAA”) will be held on Friday, April 8, 2016, at the hour of 6:30 PM at 150 Austin Dr, Unionville, ON L3R 6M7.

The following documents will be posted on the JPAA website www.jpaacanada.com in a few days. Please visit the site regularly for updates.

Ø  Agenda

Ø  Minutes of 2015 AGM

Ø  President’s Annual Report for 2015

Ø  Financial Statements for 2015               JPAA Fin 2015 final

Warmest wishes from JPAA Canada to you and your family!

We wish you a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! May the light of Christmas be your sun that you may never walk in obscurity; I offer you this season’s gifts of Joy and unending tstimonies. Merry Christmas 

Christmas Wishes.

Christmas is a magical holiday season that brings with it joy, love, and heartwarming thoughts. Inspire your friends and loved ones with just the right words needed to spread some Christmas joy. Christmas wishes allow you to convey your love and sincere thoughts in just the right way to anyone you know.

ALSTON KOCH – he came, he sang and he simply rocked! The 2015 JPAA Canada Annual Dinner Dance was a grand success. The capacity crowd witnessed a superstar in action. Alston's rendition of "DIANA" made popular by Paul Anka was a sensational bit of vocals. This writer has listened Paul Anka live twice sining "Diana" – but Alston's rendition matched his key to key. There were other songs too – Lonely Table Just For One & Delilah! People were more intent on listening rather than dance as it was a theatre performance – more or less. Another splendid performance by DJ – Pradeep Thomas (Peterite Alumnus) who backed Alston with super coordination. The JPAA Dinner Dance was titled, "Evening of Nostalgia". And so it was. It was a nostalgic moment when Alston introduced female sensation PRIYANTHI MANAMPERI-JALALDEEN who had sung with Alston when she was only 14-years old. Raj Jalaldeen was also present at the dance. So was "Baby Shiromie" a.k.s. Shiromie Fernando. It was a star-studded night.

Social media was inundated with photos and videos captured at the dance. Almost everyone had a photo-shoot with the stars. Alston patiently stood by his adoring fans. 

The two school anthems were sung with such strong passion backed by music provided by DJ – Pradeep Thomas. This was the best rendition of the school anthems (specially the Peterite version) since 1984.

JPAA President Upali Obeyesekere says, "Thank you to all our wonderful guests for their patronage! I believe you had a splendid time. If you have feedback – positive or negative, please send a quick e-mail to jpaacanada@rogers.com and we will respond within 24-hours. In my humble opinion JPAA Dinner Dance 2015 was easily the best dance for the year. Glad that we could feature a ground-breaking musician with loads of talent along with the best DJ in town."

Photo Gallery will be posted shortly!

Message from JPAA Canada

Our popular website www.jpaacanada.com has a "Contact Us" form embedded on the site.

1st option – Look to your left on Main Page in red is marked an image named Contact Us.

2nd option – click on Contact Us from top menu. This page also has a Contact Us form.

Please use this interactive form to order and reserve your dance tickets. Please be very specific as to number of tickets needed, your name and telephone and/or e-mail address. On receipt, we will contact you within 48 hours.

This is yet another convenience we have come up with in ordering tickets, specially for the out of country and out of towners.

Any questions or concerns or special requests, please feel free to call Upali Obeyesekere @ 416-445-5390 or e-mail jpaacanada@rogers.com 

Thanks and see you at the dance on Sat. November 28th at Markham Convention Centre (Markham Rd & Mc Nicoll). 

Sri Lankan born Alston Koch was a special presenter amongst the glitterati and paparazzi in Hollywood for the announcement of the nominations for the Family Film Awards held at the Hilton Hotel at Universal City recently.

The legendary award winning Asian and Australian singer-songwriter, actor and now an executive film producer, carried the good wishes of the Asian and Australian community to the event and mentioned that the world, at a time of problems anddespair, needs more films dedicated to the family which carry a message of unity, love and peace.

During the event, Alston Koch suddenly broke into song without any accompaniment to thunderous applause with the lyrics of the famous ground breaking song that won both Grammy and Academy awards for Bette Midler titled ‘The wind beneath my wings’.

The spectacular awards which will include the first ever ‘Olmpia Awards’ and organised by the World Film Institute will be held in Hollywood California.

It will feature awards for all sectors of the Arts. The Family Film Awards was originally presented by the late Dick Clark almost 20 years ago.

31st Josephian-Peterite Cricket Encounter (Canada Series) was played over the Labour Day statutory holiday on Monday, September 7, 2015, at the picturesque Ajax Cricket Club in Toronto. Weather turned out to be fantastic and ideal conditions for the Canadian "Big Match". A large crowd turned out to witness stars of yesteryear take the field in honour of their alma mater in faraway Toronto, Canada. The event is conducted in two segments, 1) Masters T20 game Over-40 and 2) Main Game. Following are the scores.

JOE-PETE – 2015 (PLAYED ON 7-SEPT. @ AJAX)

1^ST. GAME: MASTER’S T-20

Old Peterites XI won by 4-wickets.

SJC 109 for 06 in 20 overs (Mario Steinwall 25, J. De <el 13) Crofton Joseph 2/19, Michael jayatillake 2/24, J. Lewis 2/21

SPC 110 for 6 wickets in 16.5 overs. (Dane Joseph 45 n.o., Chanaka De Mel 25, (Dyan Trenchel 3/29)

AWARDS:

• Best batsman – Mario Steinwall (25 runs –SJC) ,
• Best Fielder – Philip Navaratne (SPC) ,
• Best Bowler – Dyan Trenchell ( 3 wkts. – SJC)
• Man of the match – Dane Joseph (45 not out – SPC)
• Championship Trophy: Old Peterites

MAIN GAME: (Reduced to 35 Over’s from 40 due to late start)

SJC won by 8 wickets.

SPC – 153 all out in 33 overs. (Senthuren Sooriakumar 34, Srimantha Wijeyeratne 24, Roshan Wignarajah 20, P. Wijayaraj 20, Shawn Corera 14, H. Joseph 14) Rajive Benedict 2/21, Thasan 2/35, Brian Rajadurai 2/40, Trevin Bastiampillai 2/11

SJC – 159 for 2 in 21 Over’s. (Brian Rajadurai 64, Trevin Bastiampillai 69)

AWARDS:

• Best Batsman & MVP – Trevin Bastiampillai,
• Best Bowler – R. Benedict,
• Best Fielder J. De Mel,
• MAN OF THE MATCH – B. RAJADURAI (All award winners from SJC)
• CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY: Old Joes

** Zubin Surkari, former Canada Captain and current Toronto CC player was the Match Referee and Adjudicator and all awards nominated by him.