Awards listings of Sri Guggan
Dr. Wilson A. Head Award - 1994
Sri-Guggan Sri-Skanda-Rajah received Dr. Wilson A. Head Award
Urban Alliance Race Relations (UARR) awarded Dr. Wilson A. Head award in 1994 for his exemplary efforts in Race Relations. UARR is a non-profit charitable organization that works primarily and proactively with the community, public and private sectors to provide educational programs and research, which are critical in addressing racism in society. The Urban Alliance was formed in 1975 by a group of concerned Toronto citizens.
Wilson A. Head (September 30, 1914 – October 7, 1993) was an American/Canadian sociologist and community planner known for his work in race relations, human rights and peace in the United States, Canada and other parts of the world.
In the 1930s, Head took part in a series of "sit-ins" on restaurants and bars, and protested against barbers, shopkeepers, and movie house owners who would not serve blacks a decade before the civil rights movement began.[2][8][9] He also helped to desegregate a golf course in Windsor.[8][10][11]
He worked at times with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).[2] From 1943 to 1948, he was director of community development and community organization at Flanner House in Indianapolis, which served poor and indigent Black people.[2][12] "In 1981, then president of the National Black Coalition of Canada,[13][14] he testified before the Joint House Senate Committee on the Canadian Constitution".[15] He was on the executive of The Metro Committee on Race Relations and Policing.[16]
Head moved to Windsor, Canada in 1959 "to get my children away from a racist society".[13][17] In the US, he had been director of Chicago's Parkway Community House, and director of the State of Ohio's Juvenile Diagnostic Centre. When he came to Canada in 1959, he was the executive director of the Windsor Group Therapy Project. In 1965 he became the Director of Research and Planning for the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto.[18]
"He lectured in Social Work at the University of Windsor, 1960–1964, University of Michigan, 1962–1964, Wayne State University, 1963–1965 and Sir Williams College, Chicago, 1961–1964. He was involved with a number of organizations including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association of Toronto as Vice-President in 1967, The National Welfare Council founding member and National Black Coalition of Canada as Chairman and President from 1977 to 1982. Head became the first chairman of the Bachelor of Social Work Program at Atkinson College, York University".[19]
In 1988, Head was asked to participate in the Donald Marshall Inquiry Commission in Nova Scotia.[8][20][21] This investigation led to his paper Discrimination Against Blacks in Nova Scotia: The Criminal Justice System.
On June 26, 1980, Head was assaulted while climbing the steps to the offices of U.A.R.R (Urban Alliance on Race Relations), College Street at Spadina Avenue, Toronto. He was attacked from behind with several blows to the head, resulting in a fall down the stairs. It took the police over 40 minutes to arrive at the scene after being called. The identity of his white assailant was never discovered.
Reference: Wikipedia
J.S. Woodsworth Award - 2000
Sri-Guggan Sri-Skanda-Rajah was awarded with J.S.Woodsworth Award
Ontario NDP honours for the work to end to racism. Sr-Guggan received the lifetime achievement in the year 2000 awarded by the Leader of Ontario NDP Howard Hampton. NDP is one of the political parties in Canada, both provincially and Federally, having social justice as its main agenda.
J. S. (James Shaver) Woodsworth (July 29, 1874 – March 21, 1942) was a Canadian Methodist minister, politician, and labour activist. He was a pioneer of the Canadian Social Gospel, a Christian religious movement with social democratic values and links to organized labour. A long-time leader and publicist in the movement, Woodsworth served as an elected member of the federal parliament from 1921 until his death in 1942. In 1932, he helped to found the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a socialist political party which was the predecessor to the New Democratic Party (NDP).[1]
While studying at Oxford, he became interested in social welfare, and upon his return to Canada as a minister of the Methodist Church he preached the Social Gospel to the poor and the working classes of Manitoba. As the superintendent of the All People's Mission in Winnipeg and the secretary of the Canadian Welfare League he focused on investigating social conditions, worked with immigrants, and campaigned for social welfare.
Woodsworth's focus on social issues and inequality led him to become active in the political labour movement in Canada. He led the protest campaign following the brutal police action which caused one person to be killed during the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919 and helped to organize the Manitoba Independent Labour Party (ILP). He ran and was elected to the House of Commons as a member of the ILP in 1921. In 1932 during the Great Depression, Woodsworth and the ILP along with other socialist and labour groups founded the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), with Woodsworth as its leader. The CCF, Canada's first widely successful socialist party, evolved into today's New Democratic Party.[2] Woodsworth influenced many of Canada's contemporary social programs including social assistance, pensions and medicare.
Reference: Wikipedia
Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism Volunteer Award – 2000
Sri-Guggan Sri-Skanda-Rajah received 20 years volunteer service award from the Ontario Government Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism.
This award recognizes volunteers for providing committed and dedicated service to an organization. Adults are recognized by the length of time they've volunteered with one organization, ranging from five to 65 years of continuous service. Sri-Guggan was recognized for his continuous service of 20 years in one organization.
Sri-Guggan Sri-Skanda-Rajah was presented with OCASI Life Time Achievement Award
OCASI recognized Sri-Guggan’s dedication and services, speaking out consistently as the voice of conscience and social justice, embodying the OCASI mission to achieve equality, access and full participation for immigrants and refugees in every aspect of Canadian life and awarded in 2014.
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) is a registered charity governed by a volunteer board of directors. Its membership is comprised of more than 200 community-based organizations in the province of Ontario. OCASI was formed in 1978 to act as a collective voice for immigrant-serving agencies and to coordinate response to shared needs and concerns.
Reference: OCASI website
Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award from OCTD
Organisation of Canadian Tamils with Disabilities (OCTD) is a not-for-profit cross-disability member organization, founded in 1997, for serving the needs of Tamils with disabilities in this country. The OCTD was the first organization, founded with a vision of raising awareness and understanding of disability issues, and for providing a unified voice for Canadian Tamils with varying types and degrees of disabilities.
Reference: OCTD Website
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tamil Eelam Society of Canada
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