Viva Goa in Toronto
The Viva Goa festival held in Toronto on July 24, 2004 was Canada's way of celebrating World Goa Day. The event attracted more 6000 persons and covering all ages. The young were there in force to take part in indoor soccer and other kid's activities. The grownups there to meet friends, buy hard to get Goan delicacies and taste the cuisine. The stage shows from noon to late in the evening included song and dance acts covering three generatios. Merella Fernandez,
The festivities carried on late into the night with performances by five of the leading Goan bands. Viva Goa was organized by the Goan Overseas Association, under President, Oscar Furtado, and Chairperson, Seira Furtado, supported by a large group of young volunteers who carried the day for the Goan community. An account of the event by Bosco D'Mello can be viewed at http://www.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet/2004-July/028738.html Photos are on display at http://www.goatoronto.com/gallery/vivagoa04

Lorna in Toronto
The legend and nightingale of Goa, Lorna (Cordeiro) will be in Toronto to take part in "GOENCHO MONTRI" on August 21, 2004.
Producer of the event is GOAN HERITAGE CANADA. See flier & our events section for details.

Patriot Acts' human toll caught on film
Immigrants caught up in new regulations Documentary screens at the Filmi festival
NICHOLAS KEUNG
Toronto Star - Immigration Reporter http://www.thestar.com/
Excerpts
Sree Nallamothu, an India-born Canadian who grew up in Michigan, has turned her attention to the under-reported human side of America's new Patriot Act on ordinary people.
The story she accidentally discovered will be told when their documentary on the subject, Patriot Acts, screens next Tuesday and Saturday during the Filmi South Asian Film Festival in Toronto, which starts Friday as part of the Masala festival at Harbourfront.
(For more information about the Masala! Mehndi! Masti! South Asian Festival see our Events Section.)
Nallamothu and her writer husband Patrick Lohier, a Haiti-born Montrealer who grew up in Philadelphia, said they started aimlessly shooting the demonstrators that snowy day along Devon Ave., home to thousands of illegal South Asian migrants in Chicago .
The couple had never heard of the Patriot Act (passed six weeks after 9/11) until that February day when they found out from the protesters about the "Special Registration," which requires all non-immigrant males, 16 and older, from predominantly Muslim countries to register with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ".
The film penetrates into the heart of the primarily Pakistani and Indian community in Chicago and tells the story of the Patriot Act through the eyes of Tariq Moti, a dancer detained twice by immigration authorities after 9/11, and Mohammad Tariq, a father who came to the United States in search of medical treatment for his two blind children. As the March 15, 2003 registration deadline approached, hard choices were made. Some chose not to register and fled to Canada. Some returned to Pakistan and some went underground for fear of being detained and deported.
By December, the Department of Homeland Security estimated some 83,000 men from 25 predominantly Muslim countries registered. None were charged as terrorists. "It's not so much about the protest and the politics, we just wanted to be the witness of a historical event of how thousands of people's lives were turned upside down by the policy as it happened," Nallamothu said. Lohier and Nallamothu moved to Toronto in October and founded a production company, Thirst Films.
Patriot Act s screens during the 7 p.m. program Tuesday at the National Film Board and the 4 p.m. program Aug. 14, at The Royal Ontario Museum. For more information on the Filmi South Asian Film Festival go to http://www.filmi.org.

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