Toronto Guyanese family in charity drive

TIMES INT'L

Dhaman Kissoon, a prominent Guyanese lawyer practising in Toronto, has been associated with charity drives – dinners, gulf tournaments, etc – to help Guyanese and others in Canada. He has donated Cdn$10,000 to religious organisations, medical outfits and other institutions, and sponsored surgeries for Guyanese that are done in India. Kissoon was chosen this year to receive the Ontario government’s Volunteer Service Award and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award. Both these honours were conferred on Kissoon by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Charles Sousa late last month. He is the only Canadian to receive both honours.

Members of the Kissoon clan and some golf players

As head of the Kissoon family, Dhaman has organised charity work unremittingly, raising funds and turning them over to NGOs and organisations in Guyana. Over the last 13 years, the Kissoon clan (including his mom, brothers and sisters and extended family) has been associated with a golf tournament to benefit various organisations in Toronto.
The golf tournament started in 2000 with 72 golfers at the Mayfield Golf Course, raising funds in honour of the late Sugrim Kissoon, patriarch of the Kissoon family. The tournament has increased to 148 players this month and raised Cdn$ 56,000 for charity at the last event.
Whatever twists and turns the economy took over these years seemed irrelevant to the Kissoon Annual Golf Tournament. The proceeds from the fund-raisers are distributed to several children’s charities, including the Toronto Sick Kids Foundation that help Guyanese and other Caribbean children.
Other beneficiaries include the Three Rivers Kids Foundation and Guyana Help the Kids – all with Guyanese connection. The Kissoon family has decided to utilise a portion of this year’s proceeds to start a scholarship in their parents’ name to assist deserving students. This scholarship will be opened to all students of Guyanese heritage through an application process.

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