Benefit Gala for UWI to be held in Toronto Feb. 27

Jamaica’s newly appointed High Commissioner to Canada, Her Excellency Sheila Sealy Monteith and Consul General to Toronto, Mr. George Ramocan, will head a list of luminaries who will attend the University of the West Indies (UWI) fund-raising benefit gala, tomorrow (February 27), in Toronto, Canada.
This is the first time that the annual event will be held in Canada and the aim is to raise financial support for the 62-year-old institution’s Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships for deserving students. The patron is the Chancellor of Ryerson University, Jamaican-born Dr. G. Raymond Chang.
Several individuals and organisations will be honoured at the event, including persons of Caribbean heritage who have made outstanding contributions in their respective fields; persons who have made outstanding contributions to UWI and/or the Caribbean; and persons who have brought to prominence issues which affect the region.
The honourees include actor, singer and humanitarian, Dr. the Hon. Harry Belafonte; the first black Lieutenant Governor of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Hon. Mayann Francis; the first black to be elected to Canada’s Parliament, Hon. Jean Augustine; University of Guelph Professor and Poet Laureate for Toronto, Professor Dionne Brand; international acclaimed author, Barbadian-born Mr. Austin Clarke; educator, founder and past President of the University of the West Indies Alumni Association (Toronto chapter), Jamaican-born Ms. Maud Fuller; and physician, teacher and first director of the Division of Internal Medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Canada, Jamaican-born Dr. Herbert Ho Ping Kong.
Also to be honoured are: broadcaster and former Guyanese High Commissioner to Canada, Mr. Robert Moore; and Calypsonian extraordinaire, Mr. David Rudder. Three organisations will also be honoured – Project for the Advancement of Childhood Education (PACE) Canada, for its work in adopting more than 250 basic schools in Jamaica; Royal Bank of Canada; and Scotiabank.
The UWI’s Chancellor, Sir George Alleyne; Vice Chancellor, Professor E. Nigel Harris; Vice Chancellor Emeritus, Sir Alister McIntyre; and Chancellor Emeritus, Sir Shridath Ramphal, will attend the function.
The University of the West Indies is the premier tertiary educational institution in the Caribbean, servicing 15 territories.