-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | | | | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | | | | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Folks, This is from the "LIVES LIVED" section of The Globe and Mail, 15th November, 2005. Mervyn3.0 ------------------------------------------
Ivan John Anthony Fernandes By JOHN W. MORDEN Husband, son, brother, uncle, Crown attorney, judge. Born June 12, 1956, in Mbarara, Uganda. Died June 8 in Toronto of liver cancer, aged 48. The life of Ivan Fernandes is exemplary and inspiring in its testimony to the potential strength of the human spirit and to the nature of Canada's multicultural society. Ivan's parents, Boniface (Bonnie) and Carmen, had emigrated to Uganda from Mangalore, which is in a part of India that was earlier a Portuguese colony. Bonnie was employed by Barclays Bank and Carmen was a high-school teacher. Their four children, all sons, were Alan, Ivan, Brian, and Vernon. Life in Uganda was close to idyllic. Bonnie held positions as branch manager of the bank in several towns in the country, finishing as a senior executive in the capital city Kampala. The family lived comfortably and the boys enjoyed the benefits of an educational regime of high standards, with ample time for sports, including field hockey, tennis and cricket. This all came to an abrupt end in 1972, when Uganda's dictator, Idi Amin, expelled the Asian population. They were allowed to take only what they could carry. So the family arrived in Kingston, Ont., having left practically all of their property and possessions in Uganda. They then rolled up their sleeves and got on with their lives. Bonnie resumed his career in finance as an accountant with the Metropolitan Separate School Board in Toronto. Alan, Brian and Vernon completed their education and each are now married with children. Carmen gave up her teaching career and stayed home to give priority to looking after her sons. Ivan, after earning an MA in political science, attended law school. He financed his education by various part-time and summer jobs, including working at McDonald's restaurants and the federal immigration department, and as a supernumerary police constable. On his call to the bar in Ontario, Ivan joined the Crown attorney's office, at first in Belleville, Ont., for a year, and then in Kingston for 10 years, followed by a short stint in Scarborough, Ont., before his appointment as a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto in 2000. In Kingston, Ivan married Heather Cole, a law graduate, whom Ivan described at the time of his swearing-in as a judge as the love of his life who had brought him "the greatest happiness I have known." Ivan showed his wit in such instances as when a Belleville Intelligencer reporter asked about his background after his appointment as an assistant Crown attorney. "I am Russian by name, I am Portuguese by surname, I am Indian by origin, Ugandan by birth, English by education, Canadian by residence, and I am Scotch by consumption," Ivan replied. He had a lifelong passion for cricket, organizing teams and games both at McDonald's and at the court. At Ivan's funeral, Chief Justice Brian Lennox said, "at some level, cricket was a metaphor for his life." The game "is all about history, tradition, about gentlemanly conduct, fair play, sportsmanship, courtesy, dignity and respect." These are qualities that Ivan exemplified in his conduct as a judge. Ivan had seen in graphic form long before his appointment the results of the absence of the rule of law. At his swearing-in he said that where he had come from "the rule of law had been uprooted and replaced by the rule of the jungle." He added, "I have been sworn in to uphold the laws of Canada, the country that gave hope, refuge and promise to my family and to myself and to an entire generation of Ugandans." In his tenure as a judge, he honoured this oath with distinction. ----------------------------------------------- John is Ivan's relative by marriage. __________________________________________________________ Find your next car at http://autos.yahoo.ca