| The riots that erupted in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1983 were the beginning of the end of life as the Segaran family had known it. Siva Segaran was working abroad when their home was destroyed and possessions looted. Indira Segaran was forced to flee with her children to refugee camps. A second home that Indira and Siva attempted to build was destroyed before it was finished. Siva travelled by an indirect route through Europe and then, on a false passport, to Canada. On arrival in Montreal in 1985, he sought refugee status. Meanwhile his family resettled temporarily in Madras, India. He later moved to join the burgeoning Tamil community in Toronto where he sponsored his wife and three children, his father-in-law, and other family members. Today, Siva is a settlement worker for the Tamil Eelam Society of Canada and Indira is an interpreter for the Refugee Review Board. They have just celebrated the traditional Hindu coming-of-age ceremony of their second daughter. | photo: Vincenzo Pietropaolo
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Siva and Indira Segaran with Ketharini on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony, Toronto, 1993.