Canada has 1.4 million people of Indian origin, according to the 2021 census. India also sends the highest number of international students to Canada which makes for 40 percent of total overseas students. Amid an escalating row over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil, India recently stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens. India and Canada have historic close ties but now much is at stake with increasingly strained diplomatic ties.
President of Goan Overseas Association (GOA), Selwyn Collaco, says, “If this continues for too long, it will impact those who planned to visit their families especially during the Christmas holidays. It will impact those who don’t have OCI as India has suspended visa services in Canada. Everyone who needs a visa to India is impacted. There is roughly around 40,000 people who constitute the Goan community in the country. The population is spread across different cities with Toronto being the largest, followed by Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Quebec. I have OCI, so I should be good to visit.” Originally from Margao, Selwyn visits Goa at least twice a year.
The Quebec Goan Association (QGA) was founded on July 17, 1977. With nearly around 200 to 300 people who are now part of the association in Quebec, they recently celebrated their annual Goan Food Fest on September 16, prior to which they organised Family Day and World Goa Day. Blanche da Costa, president of QGA informs, “I don’t know about Goans but Indian students here in Canada have been warned by the Indian Government to take extreme caution due to these tensions between the two countries. Since this news is very recent, I haven’t heard anything from the Goan community but it certainly affects us all if visa services are suspended temporarily by the Indian Government. Goans as a whole, I can safely say have never felt threatened living in Canada. Perhaps, the Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims may feel threatened whenever things of this nature happen.”
Goan Overseas Association (GOA), Vancouver BC, Canada was formed in 1976 by a community of Goans, who not only came directly from Goa from various other parts of the world like East Africa, UK, Middle East, India, Pakistan etc. John Braganza is the present president and is aware of the political turmoil. ‘The Goan community is very proactively active and this should in no way affect our GOA organized events in BC. We have close to 600 paid members in BC,” says John, who has completed 23 years in Canada. His expertise is Food safety and Occupational Health and Safety and has been the president of Goan Overseas Association (BC) for the past five years.
He further adds, “It’s too early to tell about the Canada-India relations. We just started getting advisories from the Consulate. My friends are concerned and a lot of them travel to Goa for various reasons. I had plans to bring in a Goan artiste to perform at our annual New Year’s Eve celebration. He’s already applied for his visa, let’s see how that goes.”
Originally from St Estevam, Velrose Pereira is a Goan singer-songwriter, trumpeter, and actor based in Toronto, Canada. She has completed her under graduation in Theatre studies and performance at York University, Toronto and now has a permanent status and is in the process of receiving a Canadian passport. She has been performing for Konkani shows across the globe and finds every opportunity to come back home to Goa. However, she is even more worried as she is the only one living in Canada while the rest of the family is in Goa. “Right now, I have all the privileges except I can’t vote or hold a public office. I’m not facing any problems, not directly at least but my friends who had plans of getting their parents over will now have to wait for a bit long,” says Velrose Pereira.
She further adds, “This country makes you feel safe but there is violence in some places as it is a tricky situation. Anyone can be a Canadian citizen and they can come from any part of the world. One has to be a bit cautious and many people are living in a bit of fear, especially Indian students. Also, Indians who have a visa are not sure about their travels.”
Vijay Thomas, founder and CEO of the Tangentia Group of companies in Toronto has a software business that spans over Canada, USA and Goa in India. “We have nearly 200 employees in Goa and our offices are in Porvorim and Panjim. We have been in business since 2003 in Canada and since 2013 in India. The restrictions about India-Canada relations will not affect us as it is a software business,” says Vijay.
Originally from Raia, Mackvin Dias also been living in Mississauga for 15 years. He is passionate about music and worked on the music for the Konkani Christmas song, ‘Happy Birthday Jezu’ last year and recently accompanied Sonia Shirsat for her concert in Washington, DC. ‘I was in Goa in 2022 and at the moment, the visas are stopped. People who have OCI won’t have any issues. This is just politics,” says Mackvin.