Folks, The Toronto Star has a special section in today's paper for Canada Day.. Here is one article from the Top 25 Immigrant Awards. I believe two or three Goans made the award list this year. The articles of the other winners should follow in the next few days.
I can assure you all that the success captured in the story below has been duplicated by another 10,000 Goan families (at least). For those celebrating July 1st, happy Canada Day. Mervyn1650Lobo Cancun --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Defending what too many take for granted The Toronto Star By Jennifer Brown It could be a family birthday or an anniversary, but there is one song that is heard consistently at celebrations involving Audrey D’Souza-Moraes: “O Canada.” “They sang it at her 50th birthday and at her 25th wedding anniversary,” recalls good friend Maria Ferrante, who nominated the Nobleton resident as one of this year’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrants. “It’s just something that is part of that family. They are true Canadians and they believe in the Canadian way of life,” says Ferrante, who would one day like to see her friend run for mayor of King Township. “She has a lot on her plate right now but I’ve been trying to get her to run for mayor of our town for years. I think she would make a great mayor.” Ask D’Souza-Moraes, 53, what Canada means to her and she talks passionately about our education and health care systems, and the feeling of personal safety. In her homeland of Uganda, such privileges were not available to most people. At the age of 14, her family escaped the Idi Amin regime and settled in southwestern Ontario. “I’m just so proud to be part of this country and the nomination means a lot to me — I’m so proud to be a Canadian,” she says. “To me, Canada is the most wonderful country in the world — and I say that based not just as a proud Canadian, but I say it because of where I came from and how much I’ve travelled. I always tell anyone who complains about Canada that the security we have in this country you just can’t get anywhere else.” D’Souza-Moraes gets defensive when others complain about aspects of Canadian life that she feels too many take for granted. “Our standard of living, the people, the opportunities — even our health system is amazing. I don’t know what people complain about,” she says. “I spent a month in hospital with my husband and I’ve been watching the system since I was 16, sitting in hospital with relatives over the years. “Overall, we have such a wonderful health system and education system. Yes, it needs work but I jumped in and helped. What I really want to do is help seniors because they helped build this country and I wish they would get back what they put into our society, but I feel they are getting the rough end of the stick these days.” When they first arrived in Canada, her family wanted to live in Toronto, but immigration services wouldn’t allow it. “My father, a math teacher, was a principal in Uganda but they wouldn’t let us settle in Toronto, so we went to Windsor,” she recalls. “My dad had to go back to school for a year to earn a commerce degree. It was there, though, in that same program, that my husband took the same course and we met.” She remembers the adjustment to life in Canada as being difficult for her brother, sister and parents, who were used to a slightly different standard of living. “For my parents, it was tough because they had to adjust to a new way of life. In Africa, we had a gardener, a chef and a maid. My dad went to work and then came home to a social evening — it was a comfortable lifestyle,” she says. But her parents, both educators, wanted an even better life for their children, in a society that valued all citizens. “They felt this was a better country for us. As kids, it was an easy adjustment because we knew English. If you don’t know the language, it is more of an adjustment,” she says. “My dad had to learn to drive but he eventually just chose to take the bus because a car was an extra expense. They had to build from scratch but my parents never complained.” After graduating from high school, D’Souza-Moraes studied computer science at York University and earned a bachelor’s degree. She worked at several software companies and Northern Telecom before having to leave the workforce when her eldest daughter, Tiffany, became ill with frequent lung ailments. She started making wedding cakes as a side venture, which quickly turned into a wedding-planning business. “I went to a wedding show and we made some dummy cakes. After that, I had so many orders we decided to launch a business,” she says. “I just couldn’t stay home and not work, and the volunteer work didn’t keep me busy enough.” Along the way D’Souza-Moraes raised three daughters — Tiffany, now 26, Ashley, 21, and Devaney, 16, and also ran a community-based learning centre. The Nobleton resident is known for her work with the local food bank, skating club and school councils, and helping raise money for St. Mary’s Catholic elementary school and parish. “I’m a person who can’t say no and I need to keep busy. I got really involved,” she says. D’Souza-Moraes lost her husband Paul to cancer in 2008, forcing her to shift her focus to the family business: a collection agency. As someone who is now caring for her own children, her parents and her 94-year-old grandmother, D’Souza-Moraes is thankful for her daughters’ help. “I have three of the most amazing kids. They are better than any boys I could have; they help me outside around the house, and so much more since my husband passed away. We look after all these people and it teaches the kids family values.” But she worries about how some parents in her generation have raised their children. “The first generation of immigrants worked really hard to give their kids what they wanted, but our generation tries to give their kids everything they didn’t get,” she says. “I think we’re ruining it for our kids. I think we are giving kids too much these days and there’s no discipline, which is so important.”
